Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Baseball falls to South Dakota State University over the weekend

Monday, March 5, 2018
A Southeast player slides head first during a close play at home plate.
Photo by Joshua Dodge

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits earned their first two wins of the season against Southeast to take the three-game series at Capaha Field. After falling to the Redhawks 12-8 in the series opener Friday, March 2, they came back with 7-4 and 6-5 victories Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Friday started off on a rough start for the Redhawks, as the starting pitcher senior Joey Burris gave up two runs in the first inning. Junior Aaron Stretch replaced Burris on the mound before the first inning finished. Each team would go through six pitchers in the full nine innings played, with senior Carlos Vega picking up the win for the Redhawks. Senior second baseman Trevor Ezell scored in the seventh to put Southeast in the lead for the rest of the game, while junior center fielder Devon Wilson led the team offensively, going 3 for 4 with a two-run homer.

Southeast started off Saturday with a double by senior first baseman Tristen Gagan to left-center field in the first inning, bringing in Ezell to score. The Redhawks held on until the top of the sixth, when the Jackrabbits went ahead 4-2.

The scoring went back and forth the remainder of the game, but the Jackrabbits held onto the lead, with junior Alex Marro claiming a save for SDSU and sophomore Tyler Olmstead recording the save.

On Sunday, the Jackrabbits were quick to grab the lead with four runs scored in the first inning off Southeast junior starter Christian Vick. The Redhawks didn’t get any runs on the board until the bottom of the sixth, when Gagan hit a three-run homer. During the inning, the Redhawks sent nine hitters to the plate to cut the lead to 5-3. In the eighth inning, Southeast tied the game at 5 when Ezell had an RBI single. The Redhawks tried to take the lead in the eighth when sophomore center fielder Peyton Faulkner was thrown out at home. SDSU took the lead in the top on the ninth to win the game by a score of 6-5 on a sacrifice fly by freshman second baseman Gus Steiger.

Ezell led the team with four hits and an RBI. Junior Daniel Bergtholdt, the second pitcher, took the loss. Junior Austin Suhr, the closing pitcher for SDSU, picked up the win.

Ezell ended the weekend with seven hits, four runs and three RBIs. Gagan finished with five hits, four runs and six RBIs. Vega had a noteworthy weekend on the mound. The right hander allowed no runs, two hits, struck out seven and walked four over four innings.

The Redhawks are 3-9 on the season, while the Jackrabbits improved to 2-8.

The Redhawks hope to turn things around as they will host the Salukis of Southern Illinois - Carbondale on Tuesday, March 6, at 6 p.m. at Capaha Field.

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