Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team couldn't handle the offensive explosion from Creighton University in its 17-2 loss Tuesday at Capaha Field. Not only did the Redhawks lose by 15 runs, they also committed a season-high five errors.

"Very disappointed," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "It looked like we didn't come out ready to play. When you're playing good teams then you better come out and get ready to play well and that's exactly what we weren't ready to do today."

The Redhawks fell to 9-9 on the season as the Blue Jays improved to 7-3.

"I think this is the first time that I've seen a team actually give up when they got down," Bieser said. "I think today, whatever it is, coming off a tough weekend, they just came out really flat. You're going to have days like this, but the thing is, is that you can't have days when you give up. It's been uncharacteristic of this team and it's not going to be acceptable in our program."

Southeast's first run was earned in the first inning when outfielder Jason Blum scored on a sacrifice fly in center field from outfielder Dalton Hewitt's bat. After that, the Redhawks struggled the rest of the game.

"You've got to have pitching that can keep you in there so that gives your offense a chance to separate and let everybody else settle in," Bieser said. "We haven't been doing it as a team. The offense had a chance to come up big and they didn't."

Southeast pitcher Luke Shearrow struggled at the mound for the first 1.2 innings, allowing three runs on two hits in the game.

Then pitcher Hank Williams Jr. came onto the field. He allowed four runs on two hits in the contest.

In the top of the second inning, Creighton's catcher Kevin Lamb responded with a double to right field that drove in the Blue Jays' first run. Outfielder Brad McKewon then hit the ball down to right field, extending the lead 2-1. After errors by Southeast second baseman John Logan Zink and first baseman Matt Tellor, the Blue Jays went up by four runs in the second inning.

"We came out flat and not ready to play," Blum said.

After the Blue Jays retired the Redhawks in order in the bottom of the second inning, Creighton outfielder Brennan Murphy started the batting rotation with a base hit single to centerfield. A passed ball by Southeast catcher Ryan Barnes on the next pitch resulted in a free steal to second base. Williams Jr. then hit designated hitter Tommy Clouthier on the next at-bat, which ended his time on the mound with 54 total pitches on the night.

Southeast used seven pitchers in the game.

From then on, Creighton seemed to be in cruise control, adding another run with a towering fly ball over the right field warning track by outfielder Mike Gerber to make it 5-1.

"Not to discredit them, they played a good game," Blum said. "We should've came out with more energy."

In the bottom of the fourth inning Southeast pinch hitter Nolan Fisher stepped up to the plate and was walked to load the bases. On a 3-2 count, Blum hit an infield RBI single, which earned a run. The score was 8-2.

Blum led the Redhawks, batting 3-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored.

After a gapper to centerfield by Gerber, the next pitch passed by Barnes, which resulted in two players advancing to the next base. A few hits by Creighton's Alex Staehely and McKewon as well as pair of runs changed the score instantly.

Blum opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a base hit single, but that was it, and the next two batters were sent back to the dugout.

Creighton added to its lead with a two-run homer by Peters and a sacrifice fly by third baseman Federico Castagnini to put the Redhawks down 17-2.

The Blue Jays outhit the Redhawks 13-4 in the loss. Southeast made one more error than it had in hits at the end of the night.

"We came out with more errors than hits," Blum said. "You're not going to win any games like that."

Southeast opens its second Ohio Valley Conference three-game series against Eastern Kentucky at 5 p.m. Friday at Capaha Field.

"They're a very good team," Bieser said. "You don't want to come off a game like this and have to go play a team like Eastern Kentucky. We're going to see a similar offense from what we seen today, this weekend. They're going to catch fire eventually and be really tough."

The Colonials were the co-champions of the OVC last season.

"I don't care about the last 18 games we just played, it all starts this weekend," Bieser said. "We've got to focus on our conference play. We're 1-2 in conference but we've got to out and win every series in conference. If we can kind of put this past us and build on our conference play then we're going to be okay. We knew we were shorthanded in pitching today and we basically got exposed."