Southeast Missouri State University student publication

SEMO baseball loses back to back games against Indiana state

Friday, March 10, 2023
Junior pitcher Payton Lawrence winds up to throw a pitch. He pitched four innings, striking out five players and allowed four hits.
Photo by Beto Vaca Diez

The Redhawks lost in the second game of their two game series against the Indiana Sycamores 7-4 on March 8.

The game started with the Sycamores taking a 2-0 lead after an RBI double and a wild pitch brought in two runners.

In the bottom of the first, the Redhawks had back-to-back hits of their own through junior left fielder Josh Cameron and junior first baseman Lincoln Andrews, and had a run brought in through an error, making the game 2-1.

After a double and a single in the top of the third, a run was driven in, extending the Sycamores lead 3-1. The Redhawks had an opportunity to score in the bottom of the inning, but left a man stranded in scoring position.

The game was quiet through the fourth, fifth and sixth inning, largely due to the performances of starting junior pitcher Payton Lawrence, and junior relief pitcher Micheal Moore, being able to rebound after allowing runners on by drawing ground and fly balls. During this stretch there were no hits allowed, and the Redhawks pitching stranded nine of the Sycamores on base.

“Honestly those [pop out and ground outs] are better than strikeouts, you want to get through the order a little bit faster and you don’t have to throw three pitches, if you get a grounder or a pop out early, it helps save the arm,” Moore said.

The Redhawks loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, with singles by junior second baseman Chance Resetich and senior outfielder Jevon Mason and a walk to senior third baseman Danny Sperling. Josh Cameron then drew a walk to score a runner bringing the game within a run, which was quickly followed by a 2 RBI single from Lincoln Andrews, giving the Redhawks a 4-3 lead.

“Really I was just trying to keep it as simple as possible, just trying to keep it simple and put a ball in play for my teammates,” Andrews said.

The game was quickly turned on its head, as in the top of the eighth inning, the Sycamores hit a three run homer, quickly taking a 6-4 lead, which ultimately led to being the game winning runs, with the exception of a run in the ninth inning.

The Redhawks were unable to convert with runners on base, leaving 7 on base, and were unable to get out of innings later in the game, ultimately leading to the home run, and the late run in the ninth.

“We’re not finishing games off very well, today there were lots of opportunities to score, and we haven’t hit well with runners in scoring position and we need to finish those things off offensively,” head coach Andy Sawyer said.

The team seemed optimistic about the season ahead, regardless of their 4-10 record, determined to simply put their heads down and work.

“We’re just gonna keep punching the time clock, baseball is like life, all you can do is control the things you can control, we’re gonna have a good practice tomorrow and play with the expectation of winning on Friday. We're just going to keep trying to do the right things and work hard,” Sawyer said.

The men’s baseball team's next game will be against Butler University, the first of a three game series, at 3 p.m. March 10 at Capaha Field.

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