Southeast's offense carries it to split

~ The Redhawks let a five-run lead slip away in the second game.

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team missed out on a chance to move into first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

After surviving the nine-inning opener of Saturday's doubleheader at Austin Peay 12-9, the Redhawks couldn't hold an early five-run lead in the seven-inning nightcap.

Austin Peay scored the game's final nine runs to win 9-5. The squads will close out their three-game series at 1 p.m. today in Clarksville, Tenn.

Southeast is 24-16 overall and 10-4 in the OVC. The Redhawks remained one-half game behind Eastern Illinois (10-3), which has no league games this weekend.

Austin Peay (18-24, 4-8) is eighth in the nine-team OVC.

The Governors entered the twin bill last in the OVC in runs scored with an average of just over four per conference game.

Austin Peay's offense broke loose Saturday, nearly coming all the way back from an 11-2, seventh-inning deficit in the opener that lasted 4 hours, 12 minutes, and then finishing off a rally in the nightcap.

A seven-run third inning by Southeast in the opener -- featuring a three-run homer by sophomore DH Louie Haseltine and a two-run shot by senior right fielder Tyrell Cummings -- put the Redhawks ahead 8-1.

It was 11-2 entering the seventh when Austin Peay finally got to junior Kyle Gumieny, who had pitched six strong innings.

The Govs knocked out Gumieny in the frame and went on to post five runs to make it 11-7. It became 11-9 in the eighth before Southeast tacked on its final run in the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, junior John Salazar -- Southeast's fourth and final pitcher -- entered with two on and one out.

After Salazar got a fly ball for the second out, his walk loaded the bases. Up came Austin Peay home run leader Matt Kole, who represented the potential winning run.

Salazar struck out Kole swinging on a 3-2 pitch for his second save of the season.

Gumieny improved to 3-2, including 3-0 in conference play. He was charged with five runs on 11 hits, while striking out three and walking two.

Southeast got a three-run, first-inning homer by junior catcher Jim Klocke in the nightcap and built a 5-0 lead through two innings.

Junior Todd Strahlendorf carried that advantage into the fourth inning, when the Govs finally got their initial hit after the first two batters were retired.

The Govs went on to score three runs in the frame, then knocked out Strahlendorf during a six-run fifth that gave them the lead for good.

Strahlendorf (2-2) was charged with seven runs on eight hits. He struck out one and walked one.

Southeast, which did not score over the final five innings, finished the day with 28 hits.

Cummings went 5-for-9. In addition to the home run, he tripled, doubled and had four RBIs. He leads the Redhawks with a .383 average.

Senior left fielder Justin Wheeler went 5-for-10 and is batting .357, third on the team.

Klocke had four hits and is second on the squad at .375. Also adding four hits were Haseltine, senior first baseman Matt Wagner and junior center fielder Nick Harris.