Southeast Missouri State baseball team stays on course to claim OVC title

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team capped an explosive weekend on offense by collecting its seventh consecutive victory in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 10-2 win over Murray State on Sunday and reducing its magic number to three in its quest to repeat as conference regular-season champions.

The Redhawks reached double figures in runs in all three games in Murray, Kentucky, totaling 37 in the sweep that improved their OVC record to 19-5 and overall mark to 28-15.

Second-place SIU Edwardsville, which swept UT Martin over the weekend, trails Southeast by four games with six conference games remaining for both teams. The Redhawks can clinch the title at home this weekend in its three-game series against Tennessee Tech.

Southeast never trailed in its three games against the Racers. After scoring 10 runs in the first inning of Saturday's 17-12 win, the Redhawks chiseled out a 7-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning Sunday and were never threatened.

Junior shortstop Branden Boggetto staked the Redhawks to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when his double to right field scored senior right fielder Dalton Hewitt.

Southeast added two runs in the third, with Hewitt, who was 4 for 5 with three RBIs, again in the mix with an RBI single that scored freshman third baseman Trevor Ezell. Junior first baseman Ryan Rippee's sacrifice fly brought home junior designated hitter Garrett Gandolfo for a 3-0 advantage.

The Redhawks chased Murray State starter Sheldon Baxter (0-4) in a four-run third. Baxter, who gave up seven hits and five earned runs over three innings, did not retire a batter before giving way to Tyler Anderson.

Junior catcher Scott Mitchell and senior center fielder Brendon Neel both scored on an error by Racers shortstop Matt McGowan on a grounder by Ezell to increase the lead to 5-0. Ezell took second on the error and later scored on a wild pitch. Hewitt capped the scoring with a double to right center to score Gandolfo for a 7-0 lead.

Southeast junior left-hander Alex Winkelman (3-2) allowed just one run over six innings. He gave up seven hits, struck out nine and walked two.

He surrendered a fifth-inning RBI double to Tyler Lawrence.

The Redhawks added single runs in each of the final three innings, while the Racers managed just a Kipp Moore solo home run in the eighth off reliever Zach Moore. It was the only hit allowed by Moore over two innings. Matthew Wade followed with a scoreless ninth.

Southeast finished with 16 hits. Boggetto collected a pair of doubles, while Ezell and Mitchell each added two hits.

Kipp Moore led the Racers' 10-hit attack with a 3-for-4 performance.

Southeast returns to action at 5 p.m. Tuesday when it hosts Missouri S&T in a non-conference game at Capaha Field. The three-day series with Tennessee Tech begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The teams also will meet at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.