Redhawks take finale of three-game series

Southeast Missouri State left-hander Josh Parham pitched five hitless innings of relief, and the Redhawks avoided a weekend sweep Sunday with a 4-3 road win over Eastern Illinois.

The Redhawks, who dropped both games of a doubleheader Saturday at EIU, are 16-26 overall and 7-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Eastern Illinois fell to 24-18 overall and 10-8 in the OVC.

Southeast struck first with a run in the top of the third inning on an RBI double from Levi Olson, but Eastern Illinois retaliated with two runs in the bottom half of the third off Southeast starter Phillip Riley.

Omar Padilla drove in the first of two Southeast runs in the sixth on a fielder's choice, and Daniel Schuh knotted the score at 3-3 with an RBI single.

Riley scored an unearned run for the Redhawks in the seventh, which proved to be the game-winner. Riley opened the inning with a walk and went to second when Aaron Rave's sacrifice bunt was misplayed for an error. Both runners advanced on Chris Gibson's sacrifice bunt, and Riley scored on a groundout by Jordan Payne.

Parham (1-2) earned his first win on the mound for Southeast. He walked one and struck out two after relieving Riley at the start of the fifth inning. Riley allowed seven hits and three earned runs in four innings.

Andrew Graham went 3-for-5 for Southeast, which finished with eight hits.