Redhawks take long route to doubleheader split

~ Southeast won the opener 9-0; Samford bounced back with a 2-1 victory in 11 innings.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Southeast Missouri State won its fourth Ohio Valley Conference baseball series in as many tries Sunday.

But the Redhawks narrowly missed out on their second series sweep.

The Redhawks shut out host Samford for the second straight game Sunday, taking the opener of a doubleheader 9-0 behind the three-hit pitching of Asif Shah.

Southeast then received a third consecutive stellar pitching performance, but the Bulldogs squeezed out a 2-1 win in 11 innings. Both contests were scheduled for seven innings.

The Redhawks, who captured Saturday's nine-inning series opener 4-0 behind Dustin Renfrow's shutout, are 23-13 overall and 9-3 in OVC play. They are tied for first place with Jacksonville State.

Samford, the defending OVC regular-season champion and this year's preseason favorite, is 17-19 overall and 4-8 in the league.

"I'm proud of our team, the way they came down here and took care of business," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Obviously we wanted to win the third game, but taking two out of three on the road is outstanding.

"I'm just really proud of the way our club is playing."

Southeast lowered its OVC-leading ERA to 3.60. The Redhawks allowed just two runs in 27 innings during the series.

"Our pitching was totally dominant this weekend," Hogan said. "You see it day after day after day, our pitching staff just keeps us in the game and gives us an opportunity to win."

After Renfrow, who leads the OVC and ranks among the top 20 nationally with a 1.47 ERA, shut down Samford in Saturday's series opener, Shah followed suit in Sunday's first game.

Shah, a senior left-hander, allowed three hits and struck out five, although he walked six. In improving to 5-0, Shah lowered his ERA to 2.26, which is third in the conference.

Shah matched Renfrow by hurling his second shutout of the season. He leads the Redhawks in wins and complete games with four.

Southeast backed Shah with nine hits and two home runs.

Senior second baseman Omar Padilla got his second homer of the series and sixth of the season, which ranks second on the team. Padilla went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored.

Senior right fielder Daryl Graham hit his first homer of the year and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while senior shortstop Robby Moore and freshman catcher Jim Klocke both went 2-for-3.

The Redhawks led 1-0 before breaking things open with four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Runs were much harder to come by for the Redhawks in the second game, which meant freshman left-hander Josh Syberg would have nothing to show for another strong performance, although a late rally took him off the hook for a potential loss.

Syberg allowed one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings as he lowered his ERA to 2.83, which ranks sixth in the OVC.

Samford broke a 19-inning scoreless streak against Southeast with a run in the fourth and the Bulldogs were poised to close out the victory in the seventh.

But with the bases loaded and one out, Graham scored the tying run on a passed ball as Padilla struck out. So the squads headed to extra innings tied 1-1.

That's the way things stood until the bottom of the 11th, when Samford finally ended the contest.

After Southeast senior left-hander Josh Parham pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, junior right-hander Ivan Nails worked a scoreless 10th before running into trouble.

A leadoff single, a sacrifice, an intentional walk and an unintentional walk loaded the bases with one out. John Morgan then singled to left field to hand Nails (2-2) the loss.

Southeast had just six hits and struck out 17 times against three Samford pitchers.

Klocke went 3-for-4 and finished the doubleheader 5-for-7.

The Redhawks play a 3 p.m. nonconference game Wednesday at Southern Illinois.