Tech drops Southeast Missouri State into losers bracket of OVC tournament

~ Southeast faces elimination games today after a 5-1 loss to the OVC regular-season champions

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Ohio Valley Conference regular-season baseball champion Tennessee Tech doesn't need help for its powerful offense that ranks as the league's best.

Southeast Missouri State was much too charitable Thursday night, and it helped send the Redhawks into the dreaded losers bracket of the OVC tournament.

Top-seeded Tech scored its first four runs by taking advantage of defensive miscues and senior Tristan Archer pitched into the ninth inning to beat the sixth-seeded Redhawks 5-1 in a winners bracket semifinal of the six-team event.

"Tech's a good team. You just can't give them extra outs. That's what we did tonight," said Southeast coach Steve Bieser, whose squad committed five of the game's six errors.

While Tech advances to today's winners bracket final against second-seeded Austin Peay, Southeast will try to avoid elimination when it faces third-seeded Belmont at 11 a.m. The winner of that contest will play again at 3 p.m. against fifth-seeded Eastern Kentucky.

"We wanted to stay in the winners bracket," sophomore second baseman Jason Blum said. "It's going to be a tough road."

Senior Trevor Kill held Tech (40-15) off the board for the first three innings, allowing just one hit.

The Eagles broke on top in the fourth inning. Although the run was earned it could have been avoided as the Redhawks (25-32) failed to turn a double play that would have gotten them out of the inning before Tech scored.

Tech went ahead 4-0 with a three-run fifth inning, all the runs being unearned after a two-out pop fly to short right field was dropped by Blum. The Eagles got two RBI singles later in the frame.

"That one inning kind of did us in. They got three runs and there shouldn't have been a single run scored," said Blum, who appeared to lose the ball in the lights for an instant. "I should have had it. It's a play I've got to make."

Southeast, which squandered some solid scoring chances earlier, finally broke through in the sixth inning. Blum led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on junior first baseman Matt Tellor's RBI ground out.

The Eagles, who outscored Southeast by a combined 32-8 in handily sweeping the three-game regular-season series, got their final run in the sixth inning off junior left-hander Skylar Cobb.

Kill and Cobb, who combined for all eight innings, were more than good enough as they limited the potent Eagles to a combined eight hits.

"Trevor threw outstanding. He deserved a lot better fate than what he got," Bieser said. "Skylar did an outstanding job."

Kill (1-4) took the loss, allowing four runs, just one earned. He gave up six hits, struck out one and walked four over 4 2/3 innings.

"I was glad I went out there and competed well," Kill said.

Cobb, a Scott City High School graduate, allowed one run and two hits over the final 3 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.

"I felt great. I kept going to the fastball and they seemed to have trouble catching up with it," Cobb said.

While Southeast's pitching was stout, it had nothing on first-team all-OVC hurler Archer, who controlled the Redhawks' offense for the second time this year.

Archer (9-4) allowed seven hits and one run over 8 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two for his 23rd career win, which is a school record.

"He's been a stalwart for four years," said Tech coach Matt Bragga, whose squad's 40 victories are a program record. "For him to go out and pitch like that on opening day [it was Tech's first tournament game] is great."

Sophomore closer Seth Lucio recorded the final two outs after Southeast put two runners on with one down in the ninth. It was Lucio's 12th save of the season, which is a school record and ties the program's career mark.

Sophomore third baseman Nolan Fisher, who had three hits in Southeast's tournament opener, added two more hits Thursday. Blum also had two of the Redhawks' seven hits.

Southeast, extremely short on pitching due to injuries and defections, will look to stay alive in the tournament today against the squad it defeated in Wednesday's opening round. The Redhawks scored three ninth-inning runs to upset Belmont 9-6.