Live Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament updates

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team held off a late Jacksonville State comeback in the first game of the championship round to force a winner-take-all championship game on Sunday afternoon.

The top-seeded Redhawks held a five-run lead going to the bottom of the ninth and escaped with a 10-7 victory at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee. The two teams play again at 4:15 p.m. Sunday for the tournament title and an automatic bid to an NCAA regional.

JSU loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth. The leadoff hitter reached on an error when shortstop Branden Boggetto made a high throw to first that pulled Garrett Gandolfo off the bag.

Reliever Just Murphy walked the next two batters before he was relieved by Jake Busiek.

Busiek, who picked up the win in relief in Southeast's win over Austin Peay in an elimination game on Saturday night, walked the first batter he faced to cut it to 10-6. Adam Pennington, who started vs. Austin Peay, got Elliot McCummings to ground into a double play that plated a run and then got Josh Bobo to fly out to center to end it and strand a runner on third.

Southeast never trailed in the contest. The Redhawks led 1-0 after one inning and 3-1 after three. They scored five runs in the fourth to take an 8-1 lead. Boggetto drew a bases-loaded walk and Gandolfo and Hunter Leeper each hit two-run singles in the frame.

JSU scored one in the fifth and three in the bottom of the sixth to cut it to 8-5. Southeast added its final two in the top of the seventh on a two-run single to right center by Brian Lees.

Starter Jacob Lawrence (4-1) got the win for Southeast. He allowed four earned runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.

Derrick Adams, who started and allowed six runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings, took the loss. Adams (3-4) walked three and struck out two.

The Redhawks outhit JSU 12-9 and Boggetto's error in the ninth was the only one they committed.

Gandolfo and Andy Lack each went 3-for-5. Taylor Hawthrone was 3-for-4 and A.J. Reynolds was 2-for-4 for JSU.

Updated Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, May 25

Game 1 - No. 4 Morehead State 3, No. 5 Tennessee Tech 2 (12 innings)

Game 2 - No. 3 Austin Peay 12, No. 6 Belmont 7

Thursday, May 26

Game 3 - No. 6 Belmont 9, No. 5 Tennessee Tech 8 (TTU eliminated)

Friday, May 27

Game 4 - No. 2 Jacksonville State 12, No. 3 Austin Peay 10

Game 5 - No. 1 Southeast Missouri State 3, No. 4 Morehead State 0

Game 6 - No. 6 Belmont 8, No. 4 Morehead State 0

Saturday, May 28

Game 7 - No. 3 Austin Peay 7, No. 6 Belmont 4 (13 innings) (Belmont eliminated)

Game 8 - No. 2 Jacksonville State 11, No. 1 Southeast Missouri State 7

Game 9 - No. 1 Southeast Missouri State 10, No. 3 Austin Peay 4 (Austin Peay eliminated)

Sunday, May 29

Game 10 - No. 1 Southeast Missouri State 10, No. 2 Jacksonville State 7

Game 11 - No. 1 Southeast Missouri State vs. No. 2 Jacksonville State, 4:15 p.m.

# EXCEPTION: If one of the Game 4 or 5 losers has already had a bye, that team will play in game 6, regardless of seed.

Beat reporter Erin Unerstall will provide occasional updates from the tournament on this blog post and frequent updates on Twitter @semoballErin.

A tournament preview can be found here.

Get caught up on complete coverage of the Southeast baseball team here, including a profile on two-time OVC pitcher of the year Joey Lucchesi, home run leader Chris Osborne and the Redhawks' pitch recognition training program.

Seven Southeast players received all-OVC honors on Tuesday night. Lucchesi, Osborne, shortstop Branden Boggetto, designated hitter Garrett Gandolfo and pitcher Robert Beltran were all named first-team all-conference while second baseman Trevor Ezell and pitcher Clay Chandler were named second-team. Coach Steve Bieser was also named OVC Coach of the Year for the second time in his four years at the helm.

The Redhawks clinched their third consecutive OVC regular-season championship outright when Austin Peay vacated four conference wins on May 16. It's the first time since the league moved from divisional play in 1989 that a team has won three straight conference titles outright.

Southeast celebrated its unprecedented third consecutive title at Capaha Field on Thursday after a victory over the Belmont Bruins.

Lucchesi, who will get the start in the tourney opener vs. the Eagles, also broke the school and conference record for single-season strikeouts in that contest. He enters the postseason with a Division I-best 136 Ks.