Redhawks lose finale, finish third in OVC race

~ Southeast concluded its regular season with a 9-6 loss to Tennessee Tech.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State needed to win and have Jacksonville State lose in order to earn a bye for the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Neither happened Saturday as the OVC's regular season came to a close, meaning the Redhawks will enter the six-team league tournament as the No. 3 seed and be forced to play in the opening round.

The Redhawks were beaten 9-6 at Tennessee Tech as they suffered just their second OVC series loss of the season. The squads split Friday's doubleheader.

Southeast (31-22, 16-10) wound up third in the 10-team conference.

The Redhawks, who have posted their most wins since the 2003 team also won 31 games, will play sixth-seeded Murray State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Paducah, Ky.

Austin Peay won the OVC regular-season title with a 19-8 record, while Jacksonville State finished second at 18-9. Those squads receive first-round tournament byes.

Tennessee Tech (26-28, 12-15) finished eighth in the league and failed to make the tournament, but the Eagles at least ended their season on a positive note.

The Eagles broke a 4-4 tie by scoring three fifth-inning runs and held off the Redhawks.

Southeast lost despite hitting three home runs, all solo shots.

Omar Padilla's eighth home run of the season -- tying him for the team lead -- in the top of the first inning put Southeast up 1-0.

Daniel Schuh's third homer of the season, in the second, made it 2-0.

Tech took the lead with a four-run second, before Jim Klocke's two-run double tied it in the fifth.

But the Eagles answered right back in the bottom of the fifth with three runs, as they went ahead for good and later led 9-5.

Matt Wagner homered in the eighth -- his seventh of the year -- to bring the Redhawks within 9-6, but they got no closer.

Freshman left-hander Josh Syberg (4-3) took the loss. He was charged with six runs, all earned, on six hits in four-plus innings. He was knocked out in the fifth.

Four relievers finished up the contest, with James Leigh pitching a hitless ninth inning.

Asif Shah and Nick Harris both had two of Southeast's nine hits, while Klocke delivered three RBIs.

The Eagles finished with 11 hits, led by Brian Sprowl, Michael Roeder, Josh Goodwin and Ryan Wardlow with two apiece.

Wardlow had one of the game's biggest blows, a three-run homer in the second that gave Tech a 4-2 lead.