Redhawks win series vs. Govs with rout

~ The Southeast baseball team won13-3 on Sunday.

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team put an emphatic cap on a series win.

Southeast routed Austin Peay 13-3 on Sunday, after the squads split Saturday's doubleheader in Clarksville, Tenn.

The Redhawks (25-16, 11-4) moved into a virtual first-place Ohio Valley Conference tie with Eastern Illinois, whose 10-3 league mark leads Southeast by percentage points.

Southeast and Eastern Illinois square off this weekend in Cape Girardeau.

The Redhawks continued their torrid offense -- they scored 30 runs and banged out 43 hits in the series -- and received stellar pitching from James Leigh.

Leigh, a senior left-hander, worked eight innings. He allowed five hits and two earned runs, with eight strikeouts and two walks, as he improved to 6-1.

"James was tremendous," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "We hit the ball well again, and it was a big win for us, to win the series."

Southeast had 15 hits Sunday, led by big performances from sophomore DH Louie Haseltine and senior right fielder Tyrell Cummings.

Haseltine went 3-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and five RBIs. He finished the series 7-for-13 with two homers and eight RBIs. He has eight homers this year -- second on the team -- despite having only the ninth-most at-bats.

Cummings went 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs. He ended the series 9-for-14 with a homer, a triple, two doubles and eight RBIs. He leads the squad with a .396 average and 47 RBIs.

Senior left fielder Justin Wheeler and junior catcher Jim Klocke both added two hits.

Wheeler, who has a team-high 11 homers, went 7-for-14 in the series and is batting .361. Klocke went 6-for-12 and is hitting .378.

Klocke also pitched Sunday's final inning, striking out the side.

The Redhawks grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Cummings' RBI double and never looked back.

Cummings' two-RBI single highlighted a three-run fourth inning that made it 7-0.

Austin Peay (18-25, 4-9) got no closer than five runs the rest of the way and Southeast broke things wide open in the late going.

Southeast visits Central Arkansas Tuesday and Wednesday for its final two nonconference games.