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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri baseball shutout Belmont (6-9, 0-3 OVC) Sunday afternoon, 7-0, to earn a three-game series sweep over the Bruins in the opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks end the weekend 9-6 overall, 3-0 in OVC play.

For the third time on the weekend, the Redhawks were firing on all cylinders as the offense, pitching, and defense were all on point in the sweep. The offense outhit the Bruins 11-3; the pitching staff combined for a shutout and allowed only three hits and combined for nine strikeouts; and the defense made stellar plays once again.

"We played a good team game today," said head coach Steve Bieser. "We play an aggressive game, putting our opponents under pressure and forcing them to make mistakes, which helped us pull ahead in the first. I expect Derek [Gibson] to continue to be stellar for us this season because he buys in to our system. He was one of the major differences in today's game."

The Redhawk bats wasted no time getting hot in the contest as the first inning proved the difference maker in the contest.

Jason Blum led off the game for Southeast with a triple down the right field line. Cole Bieser followed with a chopper over the head of the pitcher, easily scoring Blum, that the second baseman airmailed into the Redhawks' dugout to put Bieser on second. Belmont committed another error, allowing Andy Lennington to reach and Bieser to advance to third. Cole Ferguson scored Bieser on a sacrifice fly to right. Lennington advanced to third on a groundout then scored on an infield single from Derek Gibson. After Gibson took second on a wild pitch, he scored on an infield single from Dalton Hewitt, putting Southeast up 4-0 after the first inning.

The Redhawk offense remained quiet until the sixth inning when Ferguson reached on Belmont's third error of the game and came around to score on Gibson's second RBI hit of the day to extend the Redhawk lead to 5-0.

Gibson proved unstoppable in the contest as he contributed to his already stellar day in the seventh inning with a two-RBI double down the left field line, putting the Redhawks out by a bunch, 7-0.

Gibson would finish the game 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored. Gibson hit for .636 on the weekend with seven hits, a double, triple, and six RBI with four runs of his own. He also boasted a .909 slugging percentage with .692 on-base percentage.

Andy Lack was terrific Sunday both at the plate and in the field. He batted 2-for-4 with a couple stellar plays at short.

Redhawks starter Travis Hayes (2-0) made his first start in a Redhawk uniform and was very crisp through 6.0 innings. Hayes allowed only two hits, struck out five, and walked four. Alex Winkelman pitched 3.0 relief innings, combining with Hayes for Southeast's second shutout of the season. Winkelman allowed only a single hit, struck out four, and walked none.

For the Bruins, three separate hitters combined for their three hits. On the mound, starter Patrick McGrath (1-2) worked six innings, giving up five runs (only one earned), on seven hits.

The Redhawks are slated to host Missouri State Tuesday, March 11, at 3 p.m.