Morehead St. wins twinbill vs. Redhawks

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State assured itself of another Ohio Valley Conference series loss Saturday, as the Redhawks dropped both ends of a doubleheader at Morehead State.

The Redhawks also continued to run out of time in the chase for an OVC tournament berth, although they did not lose much ground in their pursuit.

Morehead State rallied for a 7-4 victory in the nine-inning opener, then won the seven-inning nightcap 4-0. The squads will conclude the three-game series at noon today.

Southeast (17-30, 8-15) is in a three-way tie for eighth place in the 10-team OVC. The top six finishers qualify for the league tournament.

With four games remaining, the Redhawks continue to trail sixth-place Tennessee Tech by two games, as the Eagles were swept Saturday by Samford.

Southeast hosts the Eagles in a three-game series Friday and Saturday to conclude the regular season, although there is no guarantee Tennessee Tech is the team the Redhawks will have to catch in order to make the tournament.

Morehead State (17-31, 8-14) actually jumped ahead of Southeast by one-half game and now occupies seventh place. The Eagles entered play Saturday having lost 10 consecutive games.

The Redhawks have lost seven of their eight OVC series, including six straight. They dropped two of three in each of their five previous conference series and need a victory today simply to match that.

Southeast appeared to be rolling in Saturday's opener, as Jordan Payne belted a solo home run and a two-run homer in the first five innings to give the Redhawks a 3-1 lead.

Anthony Maupin, although he allowed an unearned run in the third inning, carried a no-hitter into the seventh.

But, after Maupin retired the first batter, the Eagles touched him for four hits and four runs as they took the lead for good. The key blows were two-RBI doubles by Dustin Miles and Nick Nail.

Maupin (6-5) was replaced with two outs in the seventh by Josh Parham. Maupin struck out six and walked three.

Omar Padilla and Chris Gibson matched Payne in getting two of the Redhawks' 10 hits.

The story of the nightcap was Morehead State's Henry Mabee, who pitched a six-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and two walks. That came after he had hurled 1 2/3 scoreless innings of the opener to earn a save.

Southeast starter Asif Shah (2-3) was knocked out in the second inning as he was charged with three runs on four hits. Jamie McAlister gave up just one run over the final five innings, but that damage was already done.

Padilla again had two hits for the Redhawks.

Donald Cheney had the key blow for the Eagles, a two-run homer with two outs in the first inning.