SEMO BASEBALL TEAM SLUGS OUT 15-11 WIN

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team tied the school record for wins and completed a successful weekend by beating host Tennessee Tech 15-11 Sunday afternoon.

Charlie Marino belted two home runs, Jeremy Johnson added his third homer of the weekend and Darin Kinsolving also homered as the Indians captured the series two games to one.

Marino and Johnson are tied for the Ohio Valley Conference home-run lead with 16 apiece while Kinsolving is second with 14.

The Indians, who improved to 32-14 overall, became just the third Southeast baseball team to ever win that many games in a season, the 1995 and 1998 squads also accomplishing the feat.

Southeast, now 15-5 in OVC play, moved into sole possession of second place by virtue of Middle Tennessee's loss to Eastern Kentucky, which leads the league at 17-4. Middle Tennessee dropped to third at 14-6.

Eastern Kentucky visits Southeast this weekend for a three-game series that will close out the regular season and decide the OVC title.

"We're going into the last weekend (of the regular season) with a shot to win the title, and that's about all you can ask," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan.

Southeast banged out 18 hits Sunday in winning a game that was not as close as the final score indicates. The Indians led 14-5 at one point before the Eagles scored six runs over the final three innings.

Zach Borowiak and Clemente Bonilla each had four hits to pace the Indians. Marino followed with three while Johnson and Phil Warren both added two.

Marino, who drove in five runs, had a monster weekend as he went 9-for-15 with nine RBIs, giving him a team-high 59 RBIs on the season.

"We had a very good offensive performance," Hogan said. "We did a lot of good things up and down the lineup."

Tommy Thomas struggled some but was still able to pitch seven innings and raise his record to 6-2. Thomas allowed six hits and five earned runs while striking out eight and walking six.

Andy Davidson allowed two hits and two runs in the eighth while Todd Pennington gave up three hits and three runs in the ninth.

Southeast, which never trailed, got off to a strong start with four runs in the top of the first. Marino had an RBI single, Warren got an RBI double and Borowiak delivered a two-run double.

Tech came back with three in the bottom of the first, but the Indians steadily pulled away after that.

Marino's three-run homer in the fourth increased made it 7-3 and Kinsolving's two-run blast in the sixth was part of a three-run inning as the Indians went ahead 10-4.

* Several Southeast players had impressive performances during Saturday's doubleheader, which the squads split

Marino went 6-for-9 with four RBIs; Kevin Meyer was 5-for-10; and Johnson was 4-for-9, including a two-homer, four-RBI performance in the nightcap.

Kinsolving, Borowiak, Warren and Jeff Bourbon all had three hits, with Warren homering.

Pitcher Brandon Smith stood out for the Indians as he hurled in both games and received credit for the win in the nightcap, when he allowed just one run in three innings to improve to 3-1.