Southeast Missouri (19-13, 12-5 OVC) at Tennessee Tech (15-26, 7-11 OVC)

Series Information
Dates: Friday-Saturday, April 18-19, 2025
Schedule: Friday, April 18, 12 p.m. (DH); Saturday, April 19, 12 p.m., CT
Location: Cookeville, Tenn.
Facility: Tech Softball Field
Series Record: Tied, 53-53
Last Meeting: TTU 10, SEMO 8 | 4/7/24 | Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Last Meeting in Cookeville: SEMO 10, TTU 0 (5) | 4/2/23

Southeast Missouri Redhawks
Head Coach: Mark Redburn
Record at SEMO: 285-224, 152-86 OVC
Overall Record: 499-473

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Danielle Penner
Record at TTU: 44-94, 19-45 OVC
Overall Record: 448-304

Follow the Redhawks 
ESPN+:  Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Live Stats:  Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
X: @SEMOSoftball
Series Notes: Southeast Missouri
Media Guide: Southeast Missouri

Redhawks Head to Tennessee Tech
•    Southeast Missouri travels to Tennessee Tech for a three-game series before the Easter holiday. SEMO and TTU will play a 12 p.m. doubleheader Friday followed by a single game at 12 p.m., CT Saturday.
•    Video for all three games of this weekend's series can be accessed online at ESPN+.
•    SEMO is on the road for its fourth series in Ohio Valley Conference play.
•    The Redhawks are 6-2 on the road and have not lost a road series in OVC action this season. SEMO has the second-best record in OVC away games behind Eastern Illinois (7-2).
•    SEMO posted series wins against eight of its last 11 OVC foes dating back to the 2024 season.

Series Notes
•    Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech are deadlocked at 53-53 in their all-time series.
•    SEMO has won five of its last six meetings with the Golden Eagles.
•    The Redhawks are also 14-4 in their last 18 games of the series.
•    SEMO swept TTU with three-straight run-rule victories the last time it played in Cookeville.
•    The Redhawks outscored the Golden Eagles, 30-1, in three games during the 2023 season.
•    Dating back to 2018, SEMO has cinched series sweeps against TTU four times.
•    SEMO is 14-8 all-time against TTU under Head Coach Mark Redburn.

 OVC Series Wins
•    Southeast Missouri posted series wins in four of its six Ohio Valley Conference weekends.
•    SEMO swept Western Illinois (Mar. 14-15) on the road and Morehead State (Apr. 12-13) at home.
•    The Redhawks also took two of three at home vs. UT Martin (Mar. 8-9) and at Lindenwood (Apr. 6-7) for their other series wins this year.
•    In all, SEMO has 51 series wins and 41 series sweeps against OVC foes with Mark Redburn as its head coach.

500 Wins Next for Redburn
•    Mark Redburn needs just one more victory to reach 500 career wins as a head coach.
•    Overall, Redburn is 499-473 in 21 years as a head coach between stops at St. Charles Community College, Jefferson College, Evansville and Southeast Missouri.

Redburn Gets 150th Career OVC Win
•    Mark Redburn earned his 150th career Ohio Valley Conference win when Southeast Missouri beat Morehead State, 11-7, on Apr. 12.
•    Redburn is now 152-86 all-time in OVC games.

Saysoff Pushes Hitting Streak to Nine Games
•    Brooklyn Saysoff is on a nine-game hitting streak entering this weekend's series at Tennessee Tech.
•    The hitting streak, which began on Mar. 22, is the longest of Saysoff's career.
•    She had multiple hits three times and multiple RBI on five occasions during that stretch. 

Five-Game Winning Streak
•    Southeast Missouri is currently on a five-game winning streak, its longest of the 2025 season.
•    SEMO won each of the last two games of its series at Lindenwood (Apr. 6-7) and swept Morehead State (Apr. 12-13) during that span.
•    The Redhawks' winning streak is presently the longest of any Ohio Valley Conference team, as well.

Approaching 20 Wins
•    With a win at Tennessee Tech this weekend, Southeast Missouri will become the fourth Ohio Valley Conference team to get to 20 wins this season.
•    SEMO is 19-13 overall. SIU Edwardsville (23-16), Eastern Illinois (22-17) and Tennessee State (20-13) are the others with 20 or more victories.
•    Those are also the only four teams in the league with both overall and OVC winning records.

Strong April
•    The Redhawks are 5-1 with a pair of series wins in April.
•    As a team, Southeast Missouri is hitting .355 this month.
•    Pitching wise, SEMO has allowed under three runs per game (2.6) in April.

OVC Success
•    Since 2019, Southeast Missouri has won three Ohio Valley Conference championships, two OVC Tournament titles and made the NCAA Tournament twice.
•    SEMO finished among the top two teams in the OVC during four of the last five years.
•    The Redhawks won the OVC regular-season title in 2019, 2021 and 2023 (all odd years) during that span.
•    In its last five seasons, SEMO finished with 16 or more OVC victories. 
•    The Redhawks were 19-8 in 2024, 20-2 in 2023, 16-10 in 2022, 23-6 in 2021 and 17-5 in 2019.
•    SEMO averaged less than seven (6.5) league losses over the last six seasons. Since 2018, the Redhawks have gone 122-43 against OVC foes.
•    The reigning OVC Tournament Champion Redhawks will vye for their eighth OVC Tournament crown in 2025.
•    Mark Redburn is 152-86 all-time in OVC games. Redburn's 152 conference wins are the most among the league's 10 active head coaches.
•    SEMO had winning OVC records in each of the last six seasons.

OVC Update
•    Southeast Missouri is third in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with its 12-5 league mark.
•    SEMO is behind Eastern Illinois (14-3) and SIU Edwardsville (13-4).
•    EIU has won seven-straight OVC games and SEMO is on a five-game winning streak against conference opponents.
•    Tennessee Tech is seventh at 7-11.

Comeback Sweep
•    The Redhawks came from behind to win all three games of their series vs. Morehead State (Apr. 12-13).
•    Southeast Missouri trailed, 7-1, before scoring the final 10 runs of the game to beat the Eagles, 11-7, in game one.
•    In game two, SEMO fell behind, 3-1, and broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge MSU.
•    The Redhawks were down, 1-0, early in the contest before scoring eight unanswered runs to finish off the Eagles in Sunday's series finale.

Affolter Homers
•    Left fielder Brittany Affolter hit her first career home run vs. Morehead State (Apr. 13).
•    Affolter led off the bottom of the fourth inning with her first round-tripper.
•    She became the sixth different Redhawk to hit a home run this season.

Gerwitz Clears 100 Career Starts
•    Tatum Gerwitz, who has started all 32 games in center field this season, made her 100th career start in game two of Southeast Missouri's doubleheader vs. Morehead State (Apr. 12).
•    Gerwitz (101) and Sydney Dennis (155) are the only two players on this year's team with over 100 career starts.

View from the Top
•    Sydney Dennis leads the Ohio Valley Conference with a .450 batting average.
•    Dennis is one of only two players in the league hitting over .400 this season. Eastern Illinois' Kendall Grover (.412) is the other.
•    She leads Southeast Missouri in batting average, hits (49), doubles (11), triples (3), runs scored (25), on-base percentage (.479) and slugging percentage (.606) through 32 games.
•    Dennis struck out only five times in 109 at-bats this year. 

About Tennessee Tech
•    Tennessee Tech carries a four-game winning streak into this weekend's series against Southeast Missouri.
•    TTU is coming off a win vs. Georgia State and series sweep on the road at UT Martin.
•    Sydney Kirby and Abby Shoulders each top the Golden Eagles with a .331 batting average.
•    Shoulders is 25-of-27 in stolen bases and has scored 28 runs, as well.

Tough to Strike Out
•    Southeast Missouri's hitters have struck out an Ohio Valley Conference low 102 times this season.
•    Redhawk hitters are striking out less than four times (3.2) per game.
•    Every other school in the OVC has struck out 112 or more times in 2025.
•    SEMO hitters went three games without striking out this season.
•    Sydney Dennis is the toughest on the team and second toughest in the OVC to strike out. Dennis has struck out only five times in 109 at-bats this year.

Dennis Logs 150th Career Start
•    Game one of Southeast Missouri's doubleheader at Lindenwood (Apr. 6) marked the 150th career start for Sydney Dennis.
•    Dennis has has started 155 of 176 games in her career.
•    She has played and started the most career games of any Redhawk on this year's team.

Dennis Among National Leaders 
•    Sydney Dennis ranks 35th in the nation in batting average (.450) and 32nd in doubles per game (0.34).
•    Dennis leads the Ohio Valley Conference in batting average and is second in doubles per game.

Leading the OVC
•    Southeast Missouri leads the Ohio Valley Conference in batting average (.323), doubles per game (1.56), earned run averaged (2.97), on-base percentage (.402), RBI per game (5.3), scoring (5.5 rpg), strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.69), strikeouts per seven innings (4.8) and sacrifice flies (12). 
•    Individually, Sydney Dennis tops the OVC in batting average (.450) and hits (49). Tegan Livesay is first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.18), Brooklyn Saysoff is first in RBI per game (1.19) and RBI (38) and Maddie Carney is first in ERA (2.26) and fewest hits allowed per seven innings (5.9).

RBI Time
•    Brooklyn Saysoff and Gracie Luna have accounted for 42 percent of Southeast Missouri's runs batted in through 32 contests.
•    Saysoff leads the team with 38 RBI, while Luna is close behind with 33.
•    Saysoff leads the Ohio Valley Conference in RBI.

Redhawks First in the OVC in Scoring
•    Southeast Missouri ranks first in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring with 5.6 runs per game.
•    The Redhawks are outscoring opponents, 179-121 (+58), through 32 games this season.
•    SEMO scored double-digit runs on six occasions with a season-high 16 at Western Illinois (Mar. 14).

Fourteen of 19
•    The Redhawks won 14 of their last 19 games.
•    Southeast Missouri is currently on a five-game winning streak, its longest of the season.

Over .300
•    Six Southeast Missouri starters are currently hitting .304 or better in a minimum of 30 starts.
•    Sydney Dennis leads the way with a .450 batting average. Brooklyn Saysoff (.379), Sydney Melton (.376), Madison Winkler (.355), Tatum Gerwitz (.337) and Gracie Luna         (.304) round out the group.
•    Gerwitz is the only Redhawk who started all 32 games.