Box Score

Cape Girardeau, Mo. (May 11, 2003) - Southeast left the bases loaded in the ninth as the Eagles of Morehead State avoided the sweep and defeated the Tribe today at Capaha, 7-5. Southeast falls to 27-18, and 11-6 in the OVC, while Morehead moves to 15-29, and 6-12 in the conference.

Morehead got on the board first, as they scored five runs over the first three innings, chasing starter Ryan Forsyth after two and a third.

The Indians got to within two in the fourth. Two of the runs came via Brian Hopkins 18th home run of the season as Denver Stuckey had singled with two outs. They got another run in the fourth, as Seth Moulton hit a bunt single, then stole second. After a fly out, Eric Hoffman doubled down the left field line, scoring Moulton, and cutting the Morehead lead to two at 5-3.

Morehead got two back over the next two innings, and Southeast answered back in the sixth with two of their own. Tristen McDonald singled to the right side to start the inning. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch, as David Lawson walked. Hoffman grounded out to short, moving both runners up, and Gary Gilbert came through with a 2-RBI single up the middle making the score 7-5

Neither team would score over the next two innings, but Southeast would threaten in the bottom of the ninth. Hopkins singled to start the inning and after a walk to Justin Christian, Zach Borowiak was hit in the back to load the bases with no one out. McDonald and Moulton flied out for the first two outs, and Lawson struck out for the final out of the game, as the Tribe lost 7-5.

Hopkins and Gilbert each had two RBI on the day. Hopkins was 3-5 with a homer and a double. He scored once. The Tribe got excellent relief pitching today as Stan Skakalski, James Beever and Jon Nourie combined for six and two-thirds innings of two-run ball. Beever and Nourie didn't allow a run as Nourie stucke out three and allowed no hits.

Southeast now moves to 11-6 in the conference. With a sweep from both Tennessee Tech (two games) and a three game sweep from Austin Peay, both teams sit atop the conference at 12-4, with Peay adding a tie to their mark. The win by Tech mathematically eliminates the Tribe from defending their regular season OVC title. Tech and Peay will slug it out next weekend at Tech for the conference title.

Southeast will head to Murray State to finish out the regular season. Depending on what happens in the Tech-Peay series, Southeast can still come away second in the league.