Southeast Missouri State baseball team wins pair Friday to stay alive at OVC tourney

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team is still alive at the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Second-seeded Southeast posted its second elimination win Friday, downing fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech 6-1.

Southeast (34-21) is one of three squads remaining in the six-team, double-elimination event in Jackson, Tenn.

Ky Burgess and Tim Rupp homered for Southeast, giving the Redhawks five home runs on the day.

Brad LaBruyere, who carried a shutout into the ninth inning, pitched 8 2/3 innings for the victory as he improved to 9-2. He scattered 12 hits and allowed just the ninth-inning run.

The Redhawks will play in the losers bracket final at noon Saturday against either top-seeded Austin Peay or third-seeded Jacksonville State, which meet Friday night in the winners bracket final.

If Southeast wins that game it will advance to the championship round at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Another victory would force Sunday's if-necesarry contest at noon for the tournament title and automatic NCAA regional berth.