May 20, 2006

Box Score

By Nathan Saverino, Redhawks Sports Information

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (Friday, May 20, 2006) - Southeast split a doubleheader with sixth place Tennessee Tech on Friday afternoon, and the two teams will square off tomorrow in a winner-take-all battle. With a 10-5 victory in the first game of a doubleheader, the Redhawks need a win tomorrow afternoon in order to earn the sixth and final spot in the 2006 O'Reilly OVC Baseball Tournament in Paducah, Ky.

Southeast (20-31, 10-26 OVC) starter Anthony Maupin struggled early on as the Golden Eagles (18-35, 11-15 OVC) touched the senior right-hander up for five runs in the second inning. Maupin left the game with two outs in the innings, having allowed five runs on four hits in a short outing.

In relief of Maupin, freshman Phillip Riley did an outstanding job on the mound for the remaining 7.1 innings of work. Riley (3-4) left the work up to the Southeast bats. He threw 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, and allowed only two hits. The right-hander struck out eight batters while picking up the victory for Southeast.

While Riley kept Tennessee Tech silent at the plate, the Redhawks made some noise of their own. After three runs on five singles in the second inning, the Redhawks tied the game in the fourth. Aaron Rave was hit by a pitch and Daryl Graham received a free pass to first base to get things going. After Omar Padilla's single loaded the bases, Rave scored on a wild pitch that allowed everyone to advance, and Graham scored the tying run as Chris Gibson knocked him home.

An inning later, Southeast welcomed reliever Adam Cloar into the ball game with a five run inning to take the lead for good. Jordan Payne walked to lead off the inning, and three consecutive base hits followed. The first out of the inning wasn't until Rave hit a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Dustin Pritchett to score. Graham followed with a double, and then scored on Padilla's single. Finally, Gibson knocked him in with a double for the game's tenth run.

The nightcap wasn't so favorable for southeast, as two errors led to five unearned runs in a 9-5 loss.

Starter Jamie McAlister worked just 3.2 innings, giving up six runs on seven hits, but only two of the runs were earned by the Golden Eagles. After a run for Southeast in the bottom of the first, Tennessee Tech matched with one in the second, and then scored a trio of runs in the third and fourth innings with the help of a couple Redhawk miscues.

Jordan Payne hit a solo home run in the third, his fifth of the season, but the Redhawks never were able to rally back, despite a run in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth.

Padilla extended his hitting streak to nine games. After going 3-5 in game one and 1-4 in the nightcap, he ended his streak of consecutive multi-hit games at five.

Pritchett added multiple hit games in each game of Friday's doubleheader. The senior ended the day 5-7 at the plate, including one RBI and three runs scored.

McAlister (4-11) set a dubious record with his game two loss: he now owns the single. Meanwhile, the senior out of Piedmont, Mo. is the career record-holder for losses with 18. The previous record for career losses was 15.

Matt Smith (4-5) picked up the win for TTU in the nightcap, but not without the help f Josh Goodwin. Goodwin led the Golden Eagles with a 3-4 showing in game two with three RBIs. Jake New led the squad with three hits of his own in game one.

The two teams will honor the seniors tomorrow afternoon at Capaha Field before squaring off in their most important game of the season. With losses by both Tennessee-Martin and Morehead State on Friday, the winner of Saturday's game will earn a trip to the 2006 O'Reilly OVC Baseball Tournament. First pitch is slated for 1:00 p.m., and the game can be heard live on 1220 KGIR or at www.kgir.com.