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SportsMay 14, 2007

Southeast Missouri State was fortunate to win both ends of Saturday's doubleheader against Morehead State. The Redhawks' luck ran out Sunday as they narrowly missed out sweeping a series that saw all three games decided by one run. Southeast led 8-3 after six innings, but the Eagles used a six-run seventh to post a 9-8 victory and spoil the Redhawks' Senior Day...

Teammates congratulated Matt Wagner, center, after he scored in the sixth inning Sunday against Morehead State at Capaha Field. (Kit Doyle)
Teammates congratulated Matt Wagner, center, after he scored in the sixth inning Sunday against Morehead State at Capaha Field. (Kit Doyle)

~ The Redhawks were unable to sweep the series and saw their OVC title hopes take a big hit.

Southeast Missouri State was fortunate to win both ends of Saturday's doubleheader against Morehead State.

The Redhawks' luck ran out Sunday as they narrowly missed out sweeping a series that saw all three games decided by one run.

Southeast led 8-3 after six innings, but the Eagles used a six-run seventh to post a 9-8 victory and spoil the Redhawks' Senior Day.

"That's a stinger," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said.

Morehead State's Trent Hanna dove into third base with a stolen base as Southeast third baseman Nick Harris took the throw during the seventh inning Sunday at Capaha Field. (Kit Doyle)
Morehead State's Trent Hanna dove into third base with a stolen base as Southeast third baseman Nick Harris took the throw during the seventh inning Sunday at Capaha Field. (Kit Doyle)

The Redhawks saw their hopes of winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title take a serious hit.

Southeast (30-20, 15-8) trails Austin Peay by 1 1/2 games, with each team having three conference contests remaining.

Sunday's loss also damaged Southeast's chances of finishing at least second in the OVC, which means a bye for the first round of the league tournament.

The Redhawks dipped into third place in the conference, one-half game behind Jacksonville State.

"Obviously, we'd like to finish in the top two and get the bye, which is big," said Hogan, whose squad plays its final OVC series Friday and Saturday at Tennessee Tech. "There's still a lot of things that can happen."

Redhawks second baseman Omar Padilla fielded a grounder as Morehead State's Nick Bobrowski advanced to second base.
Redhawks second baseman Omar Padilla fielded a grounder as Morehead State's Nick Bobrowski advanced to second base.

As disappointing as it was to squander the five-run lead, Hogan really had no complaints after a series that featured every game hanging in the balance until the final pitch.

The Redhawks scored a run in their final at-bat twice to sweep Saturday's doubleheader, prevailing 4-3 and 3-2.

Morehead (16-33, 9-15) didn't wait as long Sunday, but the Eagles banged out five hits during their six-run seventh and then held Southeast scoreless over the final three innings.

"It wasn't cheap in the seventh," Hogan said. "You have to give Morehead credit. They didn't quit after losing two disappointing games Saturday.

"That's just the way it goes sometimes."

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Although the Eagles earned most of what they got in the seventh, their final two runs were technically unearned.

With four runs already in and the Eagles trailing 8-7, they had runners on first and second with two outs.

Drew Lee singled to left field, which may have scored the tying run. But the ball bounced off and far away from Southeast left fielder Matt Wulfers for an error that allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to cross the plate.

Morehead reliever Tyler Lee then held the Redhawks without a hit as he retired nine of the 10 batters he faced.

Southeast had 10 hits, led by sophomore first baseman Matt Wagner's 3-for-4 performance.

Wagner went 8-for-11 in the series and took over the team lead with a .330 batting average, including .370 in league play.

Senior designated hitter Asif Shah and freshman catcher Jim Klocke both added two hits for the Redhawks.

Shah drove in three runs, boosting his team-high total to 49. Senior right fielder Daryl Graham had two RBIs.

Freshman left-hander Josh Syberg was knocked out in the fourth inning. He allowed three runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Southeast's normally reliable bullpen then faltered.

Junior right-hander Ivan Nails allowed four runs and four hits in 2 2/3 innings. Parham (5-4) gave up three hits and the two unearned runs in 1 2/3 frames as he took the loss.

Senior right-hander Phillip Riley finished up with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

"All three games could have gone either way and that just shows you how tight the conference is this year," Hogan said.

The Redhawks, in fact, have seen their past five games decided by one run. They are 3-2 in those contests.

Drew Lee and Trent Hanna each had three of Morehead's 15 hits. Chris McCaslin homered and delivered four RBIs.

Southeast plays its final non-conference game Tuesday at St. Louis University, with a 3 p.m. first pitch.

The Redhawks beat the Billikens (14-36) 5-2 on March 7 in Cape Girardeau.

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