Clutch plays against SIU leave SE's streak intact

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team couldn't have envisioned a better way to enter Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Indians extended their winning streak to eight games and continued a recent dominance of regional rival Southern Illinois with a 7-5 victory at Abe Martin Field Wednesday afternoon.

Southeast will carry an 11-8 record into this weekend's three-game home series with Tennessee Tech when the Indians begin defense of their OVC championship.

SIU fell to 15-11. The Salukis have lost six of the last seven meetings against Southeast.

"We've got a rivalry with SIU in all sports, and it's always sweet to beat them," Southeast third baseman Denver Stuckey said. "This will be a good way for us to start the conference season."

Stuckey drove in three runs, scored twice and belted his first home run of the season.

Center fielder Seth Moulton led the Indians' 12-hit attack with a 3-for-4 performance. He also scored two runs.

Shortstop Zach Borowiak added two hits, and designated hitter David Lawson delivered two RBIs. Borowiak pushed his hitting streak to 16 games.

But probably the Indians' most important play of the day came from freshman right fielder Aaron Fangman -- and it had nothing to do with his bat.

Fangman, a pleasant early-season surprise offensively as he carried a .344 average into the game, turned in a defensive gem that might very well have saved the day for the Indians.

Southeast led 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning and SIU had the bases loaded with two outs. P.J. Finigan sent a line drive to right field that looked like it would sail well over Fangman's head and tie the contest.

But with his back completely turned to home plate, Fangman gave chase, left his feet in an all-out dive and made the catch in the webbing of his glove with the ball already well behind him. That ended the inning with the Indians still up by three runs, and SIU got no closer than two runs the rest of the way.

"I just made a run for it. I started getting closer and closer, and I decided to take a chance and lay out," Fangman said. "To be honest with you, I was just hoping to knock the ball down. I think the wind kind of held it up a little bit and helped me out."

Said Southeast coach Mark Hogan, "That's as great a play as you'll ever see on any level. If he doesn't make that, the game's probably tied, and who knows what happens the rest of the game."

Fangman, from West Des Moines, Iowa, said of his strong early-season play, "I just wanted to get a chance to prove myself and I'm glad to help the team. It's quite an adjustment from high school to college, but playing in the fall helped me out a lot."

With an eye on this weekend's OVC opening series, Hogan used four pitchers, and starter Jon Nourie worked the most, hurling 3 1/3 innings. He shook off a two-run SIU first and wound up allowing four hits and three runs.

Stan Skakalski, like Nourie a junior-college transfer, earned his first Southeast victory with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

Tim Alvarez, the Indians' ace who is 7-0, allowed two hits and one run while working the seventh.

James Beever, who has taken over as the Indians' closer, finished things off with two strong innings, retiring six of the seven batters he faced, including three on strikeouts. Beever, who recorded his third save, was touched for only Toby Barnett's two-out, solo homer in the ninth that closed out the day's scoring.

"I thought I had pretty good stuff," Beever said. "I like closing a lot."

Southeast pitchers combined to allow nine hits and strike out 10, although they did walk seven.

"We had a few too many walks, but overall the pitching was good," Hogan said. "That was probably Beever's best outing. He's really settling into the role of closer."

After SIU jumped on top with two runs in the bottom of the first, Southeast took the lead for good with a three-run second. Lawson had a two-run double and Stuckey delivered an RBI ground out.

The Indians made it 6-2 in the fourth on Fangman's RBI single and Stuckey's two-run homer to left.

"With the wind blowing out to left, I got it up there, and that's about all I needed to do," said Stuckey, who added with a laugh, "Even I could hit it out today."

Second baseman Justin Christian's RBI single in the ninth put the Indians up 7-4 t provide some insurance.

"Everybody in the lineup had a hit, we had no errors, and we made some great plays," Hogan said. "It's just a good team win. There were a lot of positives."

Barnett, Sal Frisella and Erik Alvarez all had two hits for the Salukis.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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