CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri baseball won its seventh Ohio Valley Conference series with a 7-4 win over Murray State (22-23, 10-11 OVC) in Saturday's series finale at Capaha Field.
 
The Redhawks continue to climb to 31-12 on the season and 20-4 in OVC play.
 
"It's huge for us to come out and win a series. That's our goal every weekend," Steve Bieser said. "We've got Jacksonville State sitting there with us who's not planning on losing any games down the stretch and what we've got is three games in hand with three wins. I think they're going to put the pressure on us and make us win out if we want to win this conference."
 
Redhawk starter Robert Beltran worked only two and two-thirds innings in his start. He allowed four runs on seven hits. Jake Busiek (1-0) relieved Beltran and pitched four innings of one-hit baseball en route to his first win of the season. He fanned five Racers and walked two.
 
Justin Murphy allowed only one hit in two and a third innings and picked up his fifth save.
 
"Jake and Justin were the keys to today's game. They gave us opportunities to score some runs and we were able to pick some of those up early and then we had those same opportunities later in the game but couldn't cash in on them. It was going to come down to pitching and defense to close this thing out. We were fortunate Busiek came in and threw effectively and Murphy came in and did the same thing."
 
For the second game in a row, each team match the other's hit total with nine. The offense was powered by Trevor Ezell's three hits, a 2-for-3 performance with two RBI and a home run from Dan Holst, and three RBI from Garrett Gandolfo.  
 
Ezell led off the bottom of the first with a single hit up the middle and was moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Holst. Branden Boggetto popped one up to shallow right that the right fielder dropped for a two-base error. Ezell and Boggetto both scored on a base hit into right by Gandolfo, giving the Redhawks a 2-0 lead.
 
"Scoring early was our focus today. We've seen how they are working their starting pitching and we had to make sure we cashed in runs on the starters. We needed to score some runs on their starters because we saw last night how good their bullpen is," Bieser added.
 
Reed Thompson got the Racers on the board with an RBI single that took a wild hop over Boggetto in the top of the second, 2-1 Southeast.
 
Holst ripped a two-out, two-run home run to right center in the bottom of the inning, widening the lead to three, 4-1.
 
Back-to-back Racer home runs, a two-run shot by Tyler Lawrence and a solo shot by Ramsey Scott, tied the game at four runs apiece in the top of the third inning.
 
Andy Lack doubled to left center with one out in the bottom of the fourth then scored on a base hit through the left side by Ezell, putting the Redhawks back on top, 5-4. With bases loaded, Gandolfo grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Ezell. A throwing error by the catcher Lawrence on a wild pitch allowed Holst to score and make it a 7-4 ball game.
 
Both teams were held scoreless in the final five innings to finish the 7-4 game.
 
Boggetto was the third Redhawk to record multiple hits in the contest.
 
Scott was the only Racer with multiple hits in the game. He finished 2-for-3 hitting a home run and a double.

John Lollar (4-2) picked up the loss for the Racers. Lollar allowed the go-ahead run to reach in the fourth before exiting the game. He worked three and a third innings and allowed fiv runs. 
 
The Redhawks will wrap up their homestand with a midweek showdown with Saint Louis University on Tuesday, May 3 at 6 p.m. Wings Etc. and Kohlfeld Distributing will be providing a free tailgate at Tuesday's matchup.