TOO HEAVILY ARMED: SOUTHEAST FALLS 11-4 TO MTSU IN OVC FINAL

Middle Tennessee baseball coach Steve Peterson said the Raiders' pitching staff has been their strength all season -- and that was clearly evident Saturday afternoon during the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

Despite having already used their top three starting hurlers earlier in the tourney, the Raiders were able to stifle Southeast Missouri State University's explosive offense as they claimed an 11-4 victory to capture the OVC tourney title and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Third-seeded MTSU (37-21) went through the six-team, double-elimination conference tournament without a defeat and they allowed just 13 runs in four games.

Second-seeded Southeast (37-17) wound up with the most victories of any team in school history, but the Indians -- who also had already used their top three starting pitchers earlier in the tournament -- were no match for the Raiders during the game played in front of 1,225 fans at Capaha Field.

"The strength of our team has been the pitching staff and our bullpen," said Peterson. "Southeast Missouri has a heck of a team and you have to pitch really good against them. I anticipated them scoring some runs."

But the Indians' bats were basically silent, except for a Darin Kinsolving grand slam in the third inning that pumped some life into Southeast after MTSU had built an early 7-0 lead.

MTSU reliever Kevin Davis, however, made sure his team would be in no danger the rest of the way as he pitched 6 1/3 brilliant shutout innings.

"As hot as we were (the Indians scored 28 runs in two elimination games Friday to reach the finals), it's surprising," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "But Davis did a great job of holding us. He was just outstanding."

MTSU starter Jamie Powers allowed Kinsolving's 17th home run of the season in the third and was removed later in the frame. Davis, one of the OVC's top relievers, allowed just three hits while striking out two and walking one over the final 6 1/3 innings as he improved to 8-2.

"When I brought Kevin in, a shutout (the rest of the way) was not even in my thinking," Peterson said. "When I brought Kevin in, I told my pitching coach I wanted him to obviously finish the inning and get through the fifth. I never thought he'd go the rest of the way."

Southeast starter Brandon Smith had little luck against the MTSU offense as the game got away from the Indians early.

The Raiders scored four runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning, the big blow being tournament MVP Bryan Peck's two-run double to the center-field wall.

MTSU got three more runs and knocked out Smith in the second to go up 7-0. Josh Pride had a two-RBI triple off Southeast reliever Lanson Debrock, the runs being charged to Smith.

"Coming out and getting the lead like they did was big for them," Hogan said. "We know how it feels because we did it twice (Friday)."

Southeast, which needed to beat MTSU twice Saturday to win the tournament, finally gave its largely partisan crowd something to cheer about in the third as an error and two walks were followed by Kinsolving's blast that cleared the wall in left-center.

"We made the run with Darin's grand slam, but then Davis just shut the door on us," said Hogan.

While Davis was dominating Southeast's offense the rest of the way, Peck drilled another two-run double in the fourth to make it 9-4 and the Raiders added two more insurance runs in the seventh.

"It feels really good to win it here," Peterson said. "We got beat last year here in the championship game of the tournament (by Eastern Illinois) and it's fitting for this to happen."

Peck finished a monster tournament with two hits and five RBIs, making him 8-for-13 with two homers and 11 RBIs in the four games. Pride and Kris Lammers each added two of MTSU's 11 hits.

Clemente Bonilla had two of Southeast's seven hits while Kinsolving added two.

Smith (3-2) was charged with six runs (five earned) on five hits in one-plus inning.

Debrock, normally a starter, hurled valiantly after pitching eight brilliant innings during a 3-2 loss to MTSU earlier in the tournament. But he obviously didn't have his best stuff and allowed five hits and five runs in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Auggie Casson pitched two innings of shutout relief, allowing one hit. He fanned three and walked none.

"It's disappointing, but our kids laid it out there and we have nothing to hang our head about," said Hogan. "We had an outstanding season. I feel bad for our seven seniors, but they all had fantastic careers. They will really be missed. You never replace guys like that."

Southeast still has a very remote chance of being awarded an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament when the 64-team field is announced Monday, but that appears to be a long shot.

"I don't anticipate it happening, but you never know," said Hogan.

* Southeast had four selections to the 12-player all-tournament team: Debrock, Kinsolving, Jeremy Johnson and Phil Warren, who led the tourney with four homers in addition to getting eight RBIs. Kinsolving also had eight RBIs.

Along with Peck, MTSU placed Davis, Pride, Kris Lammers and Jeff Parsons on the squad.

Rounding out the team were Eastern Kentucky's Lee Chapman and Corey Eagle and Austin Peay's Lance Wampler.