Updated: Southeast Missouri State baseball team wins OVC championship

COOKEVILLE, Tennessee -- The Southeast Missouri State baseball team clinched the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship with a 12-8 win against defending champion Tennessee Tech on Friday night in Cookeville, Tennessee.

"I'm so proud of this group of guys and it's exciting for them because they've earned this, they've worked extremely hard," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "They've been so coachable, so teachable all season long.

"And I'm just extremely proud about the way they went about this game because, I mean, we faced adversity and they kept battling back and that's just the sign of a good team never quits. We went toe-to-toe with a heavyweight offense, and we came out ahead."

The Redhawks never trailed in the game. They took a 1-0 lead on a home run by catcher Scott Mitchell in the third inning and led 3-1 after five complete innings.

Southeast extended its lead to 8-1 in the top of the sixth before the Golden Eagles answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within one run.

"You know, up 8-1 you want to just pound the zone, make them come out and swing the bat," Mitchell said. "We fell behind a couple counts, got ourselves into situations that weren't ideal, but I was never discouraged to a point where I didn't think we were going to win this game.

"You know, you're always looking at the next guy to pick you up, especially if things aren't going your way and that's how it's been all year. If one guy doesn't come through we have the next guy right behind him ready to go, and a lot of the times they'll come through with that hit or that pitch or making that play. So a little nerve-wracking, but it was never anything that I was questioning."

The Redhawks added three runs in the seventh and a run in the eighth to give themselves a five-run cushion and Tech mustered a run in the eighth but never came any closer.

Southeast will be the No. 1 seed in the OVC tournament and will open play on May 22 after a first-round bye.

Southeast (32-16, 22-6 OVC) and Tech (36-14, 16-9 OVC) will play Game 2 of the series at 2 p.m. Saturday and the finale at 1 p.m. Sunday at Bush Stadium.

Southeast Missourian reporter Erin Unerstall was at the game and will provide additional information and a complete reaction throughout the night. You can follow her on Twitter @semoballErin.