NEVER ON SUNDAY FOR SEMO BASEBALL TEAM

If only Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team could stop playing games on Sundays.

After Eastern Kentucky knocked off Southeast 8-4 at Capaha Field Sunday afternoon, the Indians fell to 0-5 in contests played on the first day of the week.

Overall now, the Indians are 11-10 and 5-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play as the Colonels avoided being swept in the three-game weekend series. Southeast had won both ends of a doubleheader Saturday.

"Is it the day?" wondered Southeast coach Mark Hogan following this latest Sunday setback. "Maybe I'll start telling them it's Saturday."

Hogan really doesn't have an answer to why the Indians struggle on Sundays, but it appears that some of the OVC teams Southeast has faced so far have been using one of their better pitchers on the final day of the weekend series.

That was the case against EKU as Colonels' lefthander Keith Jones entered the contest with an impressive 2.57 earned-run average.

Jones (2-1) was staked to an early 6-2 lead and made that stand up thanks to stellar relief help from a pair of righthanders.

Darien McMillan escaped a huge bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth as he allowed just one more run to score after the Indians had already plated one in the frame.

McMillan wound up hurling three innings of one-hit ball while Joe Witten struck out two in the ninth to close things out.

"You have to tip your hat to Eastern Kentucky," said Hogan. "They came back after two disappointing losses. Jones kept us at bay and we were unable to stop them early.

"They built a lead that was not insurmountable, but they really made some good plays. I thought we hit the ball well, although not statistically. But their defense played well."

Southeast starter Tim Larsen (1-1) lasted just 1 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and five runs as the Colonels got off to a strong start.

Two Southeast relievers, Lanson DeBrock and Chad Bogenpohl, were impressive in keeping the Indians in the contest.

DeBrock was charged with three unearned runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings while Bogenpohl gave up two hits while fanning five in 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

"I thought both those guys threw well," Hogan said. "I think we've got the arms (after ace hurlers Jason Swearingen and Ryan Spille). It's just a matter of putting the pieces together and getting people in the right place."

The Indians had only six hits. Redshirt freshman Jeff Bourbon continued his recent hot play by going 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs batted in.

No other Indian had more than one hit and Kyle Yount saw his 16-game hitting streak come to a close.

Brad Sizemore and Matt Mason each had three of EKU's 10 hits. Sizemore did the most damage with five RBIs.

EKU went ahead 2-0 in the opening inning on Mason's two-run single, but the Indians tied it in the bottom of the frame on Bourbon's two-run double.

But the Colonels scored the game's next six runs, including four in the second as Larsen was chased. The big blow was Sizemore's three-run double that came off DeBrock, although the runs were charged to Larsen.

Sizemore's two-run double in the sixth -- both runs were unearned -- made it 8-2.

Southeast had its biggest threat in the bottom of the sixth as the first four batters reached, making it 8-3 and leaving the bases loaded with nobody out.

But McMillan got a double play that scored a run and then a strikeout, leaving the Indians still behind 8-4. They never threatened seriously again.

The Indians will return to action Tuesday when Division II power Missouri-St. Louis comes to Capaha Field for a 5 p.m. game.