Southeast baseball falls again to ISU

After rallying for a win Friday in the opener of a three-game series, Illinois State cruised to victory Saturday afternoon.

The Redbirds led 5-0 after 2 1/2 innings and defeated host Southeast Missouri State 8-2.

ISU (5-6) will go for the sweep against Southeast (7-5) at 1 p.m. today at Capaha Field.

In Friday's series opener, ISU trailed 5-2 after four innings before posting an 8-5 triumph.

The Redbirds matched Friday's offensive output in hits as well as they had 12.

Southeast managed just five hits against ISU freshman left-hander Ryan Copeland, who pitched all nine innings.

Copeland (2-1) allowed five hits and one earned run, while striking out four and walking none.

Josh Syberg, the Redhawks' freshman lefty, was tagged with his first loss of the season.

Syberg (2-1) gave up seven hits and five runs, all earned, in three innings.

An offensive highlight for Southeast was sophomore outfielder Daniel Schuh's first home run of the season, a solo shot leading off the bottom of the third inning.

Schuh's blast pulled the Redhawks to within 5-1, but that was as close as they got.

ISU led 8-1 before Southeast scored an unearned run in the ninth.

Senior second baseman Omar Padilla had two of the Redhawks' five hits, giving him five hits in the series.

Matt Bolt, Ryan Anetsberger, Kevin Dubler and Jesse Griswold each had two hits for the Redbirds. Dubler and Mike Tokarski each drove in two runs.

Southeast relievers Lance Rhodes, Matt Carter and Mike Taylor combined for 2 shutout innings at the end of the game, allowing one hit.

Carter and Taylor both pitched one hitless frame.

Softball drops two

The Southeast softball team lost both games Saturday in its own five-team tournament.

Southeast (3-6) was blanked by Belmont 4-0 and then fell to Bradley 3-2.

The Redhawks managed just three hits against Belmont after beating the team 9-0 the day before.

Belmont's Sammi Parks pitched the shutout, while Elaine Fisher allowed six hits and three earned runs to take the loss.

Southeast also had only three hits against Bradley, two by Lindsay Pickering. Stacia Dopudja drove in both runs for the Redhawks, who scored two first-inning runs but then were blanked the rest of the way by Ashley Birdsong.

Fisher again took the loss as she pitched 14 innings Saturday. She allowed seven hits.

In other tournament games Saturday, Illinois State -- ranked 18th nationally -- posted two five-inning, run-rule wins, beating Bradley 8-0 and IUPUI 11-0. Also, Belmont downed IUPUI 5-2.

The tournament concludes today. Southeast plays Illinois State at 1:30 p.m. and IUPUI at 5:30 p.m.

Gymnasts score high

The Southeast gymnastics squad posted a season-high score of 194.295 Saturday night but finished third in a four-team meet hosted by Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas.

Kentucky was first with 196.200, followed by TWU (194.825), Southeast and Bowling Green (192.575).

Southeast had three third-place finishes, including by Rikara Turner in the all-around with a score of 38.850.

Bryanna Wong was third on beam (9.825), and Maureen Grimaldi was third on bars (9.875).

-- From staff reports