CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Dan Holst and Tristen Gagan combined for 11 RBI and three home runs in Thursday's 14-6 victory over Eastern Kentucky (24-30, 10-18).
 
With the win, Southeast Missouri (26-24, 14-14) has officially locked a spot in next week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament. It will be Southeast's 23^rd consecutive trip to the OVC Tournament, a league record.
 
The offense was ablaze in the series opener as SEMO scattered 15 total hits. Brian Lees and Danny Wright each had three hits but the evening was highlighted by two home runs and five RBI by Gagan and six RBI including a grand slam for Holst.
 
Justin Murphy (7-3) worked only five and two-thirds innings in his start but it was enough to qualify for the win, his seventh of the season. He was hit for six runs on 11 hits, a season high in the hits category. He struck out four and walked only one.
 
Southeast Missouri used four total pitchers in the contest with Jared Walhoff (1.1 innings) and Blaze Hastings (2.0) seeing the most time.
 
EKU starter Casey Collins (2-2) recorded only two outs and gave up six runs in the first inning before being knocked out of the game. He was the first of six EKU hurlers. Aaron Ochsenbein pitched two and a third innings and struck out five Redhawks.
 
EKU used a trio of first-inning hits, the third an RBI base knock coming from Nick Howie, to put the Colonels up 1-0 very early.
 
The Colonels didn't lead for long in the opening stanza after Gagan launched his 11^th home run of the season over the wall in center, a two-run blast, to put the Redhawks on top in the bottom of the inning, 2-1. The scoring continued with two down. With two on, Clayton Evans sent a bounding ball through the left side to plate Lees from second. Following a walk to Connor Basler, EKU went to the pen for Brian Mroz who immediately issued a bases-loaded walk to Kyle Bottger. The Redhawks rolled the batting order over to Holst who lined a base hit through the right side to plate two more runs and make it 6-1 in the Redhawks' favor in the first.
 
Southeast plated five runs in the fourth to widen the lead to 10. Chris Caffrey led off the inning with a double and Lees followed with a single to center. Wright drove in Caffrey with a single lined into left. A one-out walk to Connor Basler loaded the bases for Holst who blasted a grand slam to right center, putting SEMO up 11-1 after four.
 
Ben Fisher blasted a two-run home run to right center to cut into the Redhawk lead 11-3 in the top of the fifth.
 
Following a 1-2-3 inning by SEMO in the bottom of the fifth, the Colonels continued its scoring in the sixth. EKU plated three runs on five hits in the frame to slice the SEMO lead to five, 11-6.
 
Gagan's second homer of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, this time a three-run shot to put SEMO back in front by eight, 14-6.
 
Hastings pitched the final two scoreless innings to hold the Colonels and secure the Redhawk win.

Fisher finished 2-for-5 and drove in three runs for EKU. Shea Sullivan picked up three hits in the contest. 
 
Game two of the series is set for 6 p.m. Friday evening at Capaha. Friday's game will be another tailgate, sponsored by Wings Etc. and Kohlfeld Distributing.