OVC-leading Tech sweeps Southeast Missouri State baseball team

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team simply had no answer for the Ohio Valley Conference's first-place squad.

Tennessee Tech completed a dominant three-game weekend sweep of the Redhawks with Sunday's 5-1 victory at Capaha Field.

Tech (35-14, 22-5) outscored Southeast (22-30, 13-17) 32-8 in the series that included Friday's 16-1 rout and Saturday's 11-6 win. The OVC's top offensive team outhit the Redhawks 9-3 on Sunday and 47-24 in the series.

"They're a good team. They've got good hitters and a really good [pitching] staff," sophomore right fielder Dalton Hewitt said. "They hit the ball well, and we struggled offensively."

While the Redhawks suffered their ninth loss in their last 10 OVC games and their 10th defeat in their last 12 contests overall, they are in strong shape to extend their conference record of consecutive OVC tournament appearances to 19.

Southeast, which wrapped up its OVC schedule Sunday -- the rest of the league's 10 squads all have one conference series left -- is in sixth place. The top six finishers qualify.

Eastern Illinois is the lone team that has a chance to beat out Southeast for the sixth and final tournament spot, and that's only if the Panthers make up a game with Austin Peay from earlier in the season that was not played due to inclement weather.

Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay have discussed making up the contest although nothing has been finalized. In the past, OVC rules did not allow games to be made up, but that was changed this year.

The Panthers are 9-16 in OVC play. The only way they can finish sixth is by beating fourth-place Austin Peay -- if that game takes place -- and then sweeping last-place Tennessee-Martin in their final conference series. Those four wins would put them at 13-16, one-half game ahead of the Redhawks.

"It's looking good for us," Hewitt said.

Southeast could have clinched a berth in the OVC tournament by salvaging Sunday's series finale, but the Redhawks were dominated for the third straight day. The Eagles retained their one-game lead over Belmont, and those squads will square off this week to end their regular seasons.

"You've got to give them credit. They're a good ballclub and they played an outstanding series. We really had no answer for them," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. The Eagles, who had seven of their nine hits over the first three innings, wasted little time taking control Sunday, scoring two runs in the first inning on four hits.

All-American junior first baseman Zach Stephens, the preseason OVC co-player of the year, drilled a home run leading off the third inning. It was part of a two-run frame as Tech went ahead 4-0.

Stephens, who also homered Friday, is tied for the OVC lead with 13 home runs and ranks second with 59 RBIs. He has 41 career homers, second-most in program history.

"We competed this weekend," said Stephens, who had the only two home runs in the series. "We hit the ball extremely well, and our pitchers were really good."

Tech knocked out Southeast starter Zack Smith (2-6) in the third. The senior left-hander allowed four runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking two.

Freshmen relievers Alex Siddle and Alex Winkelman kept the Eagles from breaking things open.

Siddle allowed just a sixth-inning run and one hit in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.

Winkelman, a left-hander, fired off two scoreless, one-hit frames. He fanned two and walked two.

"That's the encouraging thing. They both did very well. We had a few guys throw well this weekend," Bieser said.

Senior closer Bobby Hurst pitched the ninth, allowing just a walk as he lowered his ERA to 1.59.

But as good as Southeast's bullpen was, the Redhawks could do little offensively against sophomore Jacob Honea (3-1), who allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one.

The Redhawks also had no success against Tech sophomore closer Seth Lucio, who finished with two hitless innings in a non-save situation to lower his ERA to 0.96. He fanned three and walked one.

"Their pitching is very solid. From top to bottom it's some of the best we've seen," Bieser said.

Southeast, trailing 5-0, got its only run in the sixth inning. Junior left fielder Derek Gibson led off with a walk, went to third on Hewitt's single and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior first baseman Matt Tellor.

"They've got a good team, but we didn't play as well as we should have," sophomore third baseman Nolan Fisher said.

The Redhawks end their regular season with a three-game nonconference home series against Memphis. Starting times are 7 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.