After being swept by Tennessee Tech over the weekend, Eastern is hoping to bounce back when red-hot Southeast Missouri comes to for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. today at Williams Field

The Redhawks (22-17, 10-5 Ohio Valley Conference) have won seven of their last nine conference games, including taking two out of three from Samford (21-19, 13-5), who was in first place before the series.

“SEMO is on a run right now,” Eastern head coach Lloydene Searle said. “We have to play tough at home and not just play a game, but go out and get it.”

Despite SEMO’s run Redhawk head coach Lana Richmond knows that her team can’t let their guard down.

” We’ve been playing well and just have to maintain our focus,” Richmond said. “Everything can change in a series, and I think Eastern is a team that’s just waiting to break out.”

Richmond has kept on Eastern (9-23, 6-9) after the Panthers’ three close games with Tennessee Tech where they lost by one run in each game.

“(Eastern senior pitcher Heather) Hoeschen had a good weekend against Tech,” Richmond said. “I don’t think her record indicates how good she is.”

Hoeschen (4-11) pitched eight innings over the weekend and allowed two runs on five hits. Sophomore pitcher Andrea Darnell (2-5) also had her best start, one run and two hits in five innings, since coming back from injury. Unfortunately, the Eastern bats went cold scoring just two runs on seven hits over the weekend.

“We need to turn around things offensively,” Searle said, “and we need to continue to improve our pitching.”

SEMO will have two tough pitchers of its own going to the mound: senior Amy Fahnestock and freshman Elaine Fisher. Fahnestock (13-8) is posting a 1.92 ERA while Fisher (5-3) is just below her with a 1.99 ERA.

“These games are going to go down to the wire,” Richmond said. “The pitching is going to be consistent, and it’s going to come down to who can get a timely hit.

“Someone’s going to have to break through at the plate.”