LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jason Rackers pitched a gem while Jevon Mason and Tyler Wilber both hit 10th inning home runs to propel No. 2 Southeast Missouri (37-20) past top seeded Belmont (39-20), 5-4, Saturday afternoon at Wild Health Field for the Redhawks second-straight Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament title. 
 
SEMO captured its fifth OVC Tournament title in program history and second consecutive Championship for the first time in school history Saturday. The Redhawks won the Tournament title as a second seed for the first time in program history. 
 
SEMO also secured the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament and will make their fifth appearance in the 64-team field this year.
 
This year's 64-team Division I Baseball Tournament bracket will be revealed during the NCAA Baseball Selection Show on Monday, May 30. The selection show airs live at 11 a.m., CT on ESPN2. SEMO will host a NCAA Baseball Selection Show Watch Party, Monday, May 30 at Wings, Etc., 3047 William Street, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 
 
The 64 teams will be placed in 16 different four-team regions, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format. Games then start with regionals (Friday, June 3 through Monday, June 6) and continue on to super regionals before the men's College World Series begins Friday, June 17, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
 
Rackers, Lincoln Andrews, Wilber, Andrew Keck, Mason, and Blake Cisneros were named to the 2022 OVC All-Tournament Team. 
 
Rackers was also selected as the Tournament's Most Valuable Player. He is SEMO's fifth MVP in OVC Tournament history joining Jeremy Johnson (1998), Clemente Bonilla (2002), Joey Lucchesi (2016) and Wade Stauss (2021). 

Mason was tabbed to his second-straight OVC All-Tournament Team. 
 
Rackers, a 2022 All-OVC Second Team Selection from Jefferson City, Missouri, pitched a career-best 9.2 innings. The Tennessee transfer allowed two earned runs on seven hits with a personal high eight strikeouts. 
 
Rackers previously pitched 19 pitches in SEMO's 2022 OVC Baseball Championship opener against #6 Tennessee Tech before being relieved during the resumption of play after a four-plus hour weather delay. 
 
With the game tied at 2-2, SEMO pulled ahead for good in the 10th inning. 
 
Ben Palmer opened the frame with a single to third before Mason blasted a home run to left to provide the Redhawks a 4-2 advantage. 
 
For Mason, a junior from West Des Moines, Iowa, the two-run homer was his 14th of the season. 
 
Wilber then chipped in a two-out home run to left center to increase the SEMO edge to 5-2. The 2022 All-OVC First Team Selection from Los Alamitos, California, posted his team-high 18th round tripper of the 2022 campaign.
 
In the bottom of the 10th, Rackers earned the first two outs on groundouts before letting up a walk which started Belmont's comeback attempt. Rackers was then relieved by Kyle Miller.
 
Brodey Heaton tripled to left to score Guy Lipscomb, the 2022 OVC Player of the Year, who came aboard on a two-out walk. 
 
Tommy Crider then reached on a fielding error which scored Heaton and made it a one-run game (5-4). 
 
Blake Cisneros was called upon for the final out. The Fenton, Missouri, native, punched out Logan Jarvis to seal the Championship for SEMO and earn the save. 
 
The Bruins took an early 1-0 lead on a RBI single from Jackson Campbell in the bottom of the fourth. 
 
Peyton Leeper evened the contest at 1-1 with a two-out single to right to plate Keck in the seventh. Keck led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a groundout.
 
Belmont then retook the lead in the eighth on a Redhawks fielding error. 
 
Keck knotted the contest at 2-2 in the top of the ninth. The junior catcher from St. Louis, Missouri, homered for the second-straight Championship game Saturday.
 
Keck led off the ninth with a solo jack to left field for his 200th career hit as a Redhawk. 
 
Rackers then retired the Bruins in order before SEMO's 10th inning game-winning rally. 
 
Bruins starter Jalen Border pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on two hits in the pitcher's duel Saturday. 
 
Mason and Leeper both went 2-for-4 Saturday at the plate. Wilber, Keck, and Palmer each registered a hit in the "Winner Take All" Tournament Championship Final. Keck scored twice while Mason, Wilber and Palmer all tagged home once, respectively. 
 
Lipscomb (3-for-4) and Heaton (3-for-5) paced Belmont with three hits each. Heaton had both of the Bruins extra-base hits, with a double and a triple. 
 
Thirteen players on this year's roster captured their second-straight OVC Tournament title in 2022. Jevon Mason, Peyton Leeper, Danny Sperling, Tyler Wilber, Andrew Keck, Lincoln Andrews, Kyle Miller, Austin Williams, Blake Cisneros, Bryce Grossius, Hunter Ralls, Matt Perego and Fischer Rausch have now won three Championships (two tournament and one regular-season titles). 
 
The Redhawks 37 wins in 2022 are the most in a season since 2016. That year, Southeast Missouri went 39-21 overall, won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Starkville Regional, hosted by Mississippi State.
 
With three home runs Saturday, the 2022 SEMO team has now registered 95 homers which ranks first all-time in single-season home runs during SEMO's NCAA Division I era. The 2000 Southeast Missouri team had 92 which previously topped the record books.
 
SEMO will next compete in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Regionals are set for Friday, June 3 through Monday, June 6.
 
This year's 64-team Division I Baseball Tournament bracket will be revealed during the NCAA Baseball Selection Show on Monday, May 30. The selection show airs live at 11 a.m., CT on ESPN2. SEMO will host a NCAA Baseball Selection Show Watch Party, Monday, May 30 at Wings, Etc., 3047 William Street, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 
 
 
2022 OVC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Jason Rackers, Southeast Missouri
Lincoln Andrews, Southeast Missouri
Tyler Wilber, Southeast Missouri
Andrew Keck, Southeast Missouri
Jevon Mason, Southeast Missouri
Blake Cisneros, Southeast Missouri
Guy Lipscomb, Belmont
Joshua South, Belmont
Brodey Heaton, Belmont
Jalen Borders, Belmont
Jason Hinchman, Tennessee Tech
Ed Johnson, Tennessee Tech
Richie Well, SIUE

MVP: Jason Rackers, Southeast Missouri