Belmont baseball left hoping for NCAA Tournament after loss to SEMO in OVC championship
Southeast Missouri hit three home runs over the final two innings, then held off Belmont 5-4 in 10 innings in the Ohio Valley Conference championship Saturday at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Kentucky.
The No. 2 seed Redhawks earned the OVC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, leaving Belmont hoping for an at-large bid entering Selection Monday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN2).
No. 1 seed Belmont (39-20) matched the program record for wins in a season, which came in 2012. That was also the last year the Bruins played in the NCAA Tournament.
SEMO (37-20), the defending OVC tournament champion, has won the tournament three times since 2016 and a total of five times.
The Redhawks tied the game 1-1 in the seventh inning on Peyton Leeper's RBI single.
Belmont went back up 2-1 in the eighth when Brodey Heaton doubled to right field and scored on a fielder's error.
SEMO got home runs from Andrew Keck in the ninth inning and Jevon Mason and Tyler Wilbeur in the 10th to take a 5-2 lead.
Belmont battled back in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI triple by Heaton, who scored again on an error with two outs.
Blake Cisernos struck out Belmont's Logan Jarvis to end the game.
Jason Rackers (6-3) got the win. Cisneros got the save.
Kyle Brennan (3-5) got the loss for Belmont.
It was only Belmont's second extra innings loss this season.
Heaton mad the all-tournament team along with Guy Lipscomb, Jalen Borders and Joshua South.
Rackers was the most valuable player. Wilber, Keck, Mason and Cisneros made the all-tournament team for SEMO.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-969-1742 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Belmont baseball falls in OVC championship, hopes for NCAA regional
