CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Senior student-athletes were on display Saturday afternoon at Capaha Field as Southeast defeated Eastern Kentucky (24-32, 10-20) by a score of 16-3, completing the three-game sweep of the Colonels.
 
The Redhawks finish the regular season with a 28-24 overall record and a 16-14 clip in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks will carry the fifth seed in next week's OVC Tournament and will play No. 4 Jacksonville State at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning in Oxford, Alabama.
 
Southeast outhit the Colonels 17-11. Five seniors in the lineup combined for 10 hits and nine RBI. Senior Chris Caffrey put together a three-hit, two-RBI day. Seniors Dan Holst, Chris Osborne, and Brian Lees all had two hits while fellow senior Clayton Evans had a two-run home run.
 
Not to be outdone by the seniors, freshman Danny Wright had a great day at the plate going 3-for-4 with three RBI. He finished the day with two doubles and a triple. Kyle Bottger finished with a two-hit performance and also drove in a couple.
 
Nate Green (3-3) pitched six innings in his start. He surrendered just one run on seven EKU hits. Joey Burris and Matthew Wade each pitched an inning in relief. Seniors Jared Waldhoff and Robert Beltran combined for the final inning of the game.
 
EKU starter Bryan Quillens (3-4) pitched two innings in his start, allowing five runs on five hits. EKU used six total pitchers on Saturday.
 
A five spot in the second put the Redhawks out in front first for the first in the series. The inning began with a single by Caffrey and a double by Lees. Both came in to score on a double just fair down the third base line by Wright to put SEMO on top. Connor Basler drove in Wright to add to the early lead. Holst extended the lead and his on-base streak to 40 games with one swing when he homered off the top of the wall in left, making it a 5-0 lead.
 
Southeast scored three more in the third to tack onto the lead. With runners on the corners, Lees flied to right, deep enough for Tristen Gagan to tag up and score. Bottger doubled to right center and Caffrey scored all the way from first to make it 7-0. Bottger advanced to third on a wild pitch followed by Basler drawing a two-out walk. For the second week in a row, the Redhawks successfully executed a double steal to widen the lead to eight.
 
EKU touched home for the first time in the top of the fourth. Ben Fisher led off with a single, advanced on a base hit by Alex Holderbach then again after a 4-6-3 double play. He scored on a Nick Howie RBI single to break up the shutout, 8-1.
 
Caffrey's third hit of the day was a two-RBI double off the wall in dead center in the fourth to widen the lead to 10-1.
 
Another five-run inning in the seventh put the Redhawks up a bunch. Basler reached on an error to lead off the inning. Evans stepped in and blasted his fourth home run of the season over the wall in left to start the scoring. Holst singled then scored when Osborne split the gap in right center. Lees followed suit with a triple to easily score Osborne. Wright and Osborne traded places for the fifth run of the inning, putting the Redhawks up 15-1.
 
Daniel McFarland hit a two-out double then scored on a throwing error by Basler in the seventh inning. EKU's third run came an inning later when Fisher scored on a pinch hit single to left by Logan Stephens, 15-3.
 
An RBI groundout by Bottger in the bottom of the inning concluded the scoring for the day, 16-3.
 
Cornell Nixon, Fisher, and McFarland all had two hits for EKU.
 
The Redhawks will make their 23^rd-consecutive OVC Tournament appearance next week in Oxford.