Kyle Tiernan and Wes Cunningham each homered in the top of the 10th inning to lift No. 3 Murray State (26-27-1) to a 13-9 win over No. 4 Southeast Missouri (30-25) Thursday at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
The Redhawks dropped their first two games of the tournament for the second year in a row.
“We had a rough start, but got back in it,” said Southeast head coach Mark Hogan. “It came down to the end and we couldn’t finish it off.”
Southeast battled back from an early six-run deficit and the game was tied 9-9 going into extra innings.
With one out in the 10th, Tiernan broke the deadlock with a solo home run to right off Redhawks reliever Michael Adamson. Following back-to-back singles and a strikeout, OVC Player of the Year Cunningham launched a three-run blast over the right field wall against Jim Klocke to cap the 13-9 win.
The Thoroughbreds stayed alive in the tournament by winning their second game of the day following an earlier 4-3 loss to No. 6 Eastern Kentucky.
Murray State jumped all over Southeast starting right-hander Nick Thomas in the first.
The Thoroughbreds started the game with six-straight hits and pushed across six runs to take a 6-0 lead. Thomas faced only six hitters and didn’t record an out.
After that, left-hander Logan Mahon got the Redhawks back in the game.
Mahon did not allow a hit or run for three-straight innings, and at one time, retired 12 in a row in a masterful relief performance.
Mahon ended up allowing five hits and three runs, while striking out five in 7.1 innings, his longest outing of the season.
“Logan was outstanding today,” said Hogan. “The way he got us back in the game was admirable.”
Southeast’s offense rallied behind Mahon to score in five-consecutive innings and chip away at the Murray State lead.
The Redhawks tied the game at 8-8 with three unearned runs in the fifth.
Brett Russell drew a leadoff walk and was safe at second on a fielder’s choice and an error. Louie Haseltine singled home Russell before Jesse Tierney gave Southeast runners at second and third with one out. Adamson then knocked in two runs on his two-out game-tying single.
Blake Slattery’s two-out single gave the Redhawks their only lead at 9-8 with two outs in the sixth before the Thoroughbreds won it in the 10th.
Alex Love (7-1) allowed just two hits and one run in five innings to pick up the win. He also s truck out three and walked one.
Adamson (1-3) took the loss for Southeast. He gave up five hits, three runs and struck out two in two innings.
The Redhawks had 12 hits on the day, with three coming from both Haseltine and Casey Jones. Klocke and Adamson followed close behind with two hits apiece.
Bryan Propst went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, three double s and three RBI to lead Murray State. Cunningham added a game-high four RBI, while Tiernan and Brandon Elliott each had three hits.
Southeast, which fell to 0-6 in extra-inning games this season, wrapped up its 2010 campaign at 30-25 overall.
In addition, the Redhawks have lost five-straight games at the OVC Tournament. Each of their last three OVC Tournament losses were in extra innings.
