CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri State scored a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth Sunday on its way to a 5-2 win over SIUE and a sweep of the three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series.
The Cougars fell to 10-11 overall and 0-3 in the OVC. The Cougars have now dropped five straight. Southeast Missouri improved to 17-5 overall and 3-0 in OVC play. The Redhawks are 13-0 at home this season.
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It was 2-2 in the seventh before Southeast Missouri loaded the bases ahead of Ben Palmer, who was hit by a pitch by Cougar reliever Kyle Dixon. The run was charged to SIUE starter Kaid Karnes who started the inning.
Karnes (1-2) worked the first 6 1/3 innings. He allowed three runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out four.
"Kaid did a nice job in his start today," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "He did everything we could have asked of him. He gave us an opportunity to win."
Andrew Keck extended SEMO's lead with a two-run homer in the eighth, for the final margin.
Brett Pierson initially put the Cougars on top in the third inning with his second home run of the year.
Ben Palmer's two-run home run in the bottom of the inning put SEMO on top 2-1, before Richie Well singled for SIUE in the fourth to drive in Avery Owusu-Asiedu to even the score 2-2.
Austin Williams (3-1) worked 1 1/3 innings in relief to earn the win for the Redhawks. He allowed just a single hit and struck out one. Kyle Miller picked up his fourth save with two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit and struck out three.
Both teams finished with eight hits. Connor Kiffer and Steven Pattan each had two hits to lead the Cougars.
The Cougars left 10 runners on base, including two runners in each of the seventh and eighth innings.
"Offensively, our struggles to get the big hit continued," Lyons said. "We left several guys on base, especially in the late innings; we had some chances."
Keck was 3-4 to lead SEMO at the plate.
"We can't let this weekend get to us," Lyons added. "We pitched at a high level, but we weren't able to capitalize on our offensive chances. It's a long season and we have a lot of season ahead of us."
SIUE will play a Wednesday contest at Missouri before opening the OVC home season with UT Martin next weekend at Simmons Baseball Complex.
