Eastern Kentucky's offense regroups to dump Southeast Missouri State baseball team

~ Southeast gave up three home runs in its 9-6 loss Friday

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team was able to get off the mat after a rough start.

But the Redhawks' persistence didn't allow them to escape their rut.

Visiting Eastern Kentucky fought off a Southeast comeback Friday and rallied for a 9-6 Ohio Valley Conference win. The Redhawks suffered their 14th loss in 15 games and their 20th defeat in 23 contests.

"We battled hard. I was proud of the guys for that," Southeast sophomore Derek Gibson said.

Southeast Missouri State third baseman Trenton Moses fields a ground ball during Friday's game.

The Redhawks could not have gotten off to a worse start. They fell behind 3-0 before recording an out. Senior Jacob Daniel's two-run homer was the big blow during EKU's three-run first inning.

Southeast trailed 4-1 before putting together a five-run fourth inning that featured four hits and an error that made three of the runs unearned.

True freshman Cody Spanberger and redshirt freshman Jason Blum had RBI singles. Blum's hit tied the contest. Gibson capped the outburst with a two-out, two-RBI single for a 6-4 lead.

"Down 3-0, that's tough, but we battled back," Blum said.

Southeast knocked out junior college transfer left-hander Shane Grimm, who had been EKU's most effective starter, during the uprising. But that turned out to be bad news for the Redhawks.

Three relievers dominated the Redhawks over the final 5 1/3 innings. The relievers shut out the Redhawks on one hit while allowing just three baserunners. The trio combined for 11 strikeouts.

"They were unbelievable," EKU coach Jason Stein said.

EKU's bats finally got going again after being limited for several innings by Southeast juco transfer left-hander Ryan Kendall, who regrouped after the tough start.

"I thought Ryan did a good job," Gibson said. "He gave us a chance."

Kendall carried a 6-5 lead into the seventh inning and was within one out of finishing the frame with Southeast still ahead.

But sophomore Bryan Soloman drilled a two-run homer on Kendall's final pitch of the day to put EKU back on top 7-6.

"He got an elevated ball," Stein said about Soloman. "He's missed that pitch a lot, but he's starting to hit it."

Senior Richie Rodriguez added insurance for the Colonels with a two-run homer off juco transfer Dylan Lynn in the eighth inning.

Kendall (0-3) worked a career-high 6 2/3 innings. He allowed 10 hits and seven runs, six earned. He struck out two and walked one.

Senior left-hander Ryan Prickett finished with 1 1/3 shutout innings. He struck out three and gave up two hits.

"Kendall settled down. It wasn't a bad start," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Prickett has been throwing well."

EKU outhit Southeast 14-8, and the Redhawks struck out 14 times. Blum and senior Kenton Parmley led Southeast with two hits apiece. Blum had the Redhawks' only extra-base hit, a double.

Blum, who started Southeast's first 16 games of the season in left field, got off to a hot start but had seen his average dip to .179. His playing time decreased accordingly.

Blum, who had been mired in a 1 for 27 slump, started in center field Friday, his first start in seven games and just his third start in 16 contests.

"Hopefully this helps me turn things around," Blum said. "I've just been struggling. It's just part of the game."

Hogan shuffled his lineup partly to try to inject some life into an offense that had been scuffling and partly due to the absence of several players, including two starters, redshirt freshman Andy Lennington and senior Jesse Tierney. Both have been diagnosed with mononucleosis and will be out indefinitely.

Lennington ranks third on the team in batting average (.327) and third in RBIs (22).

Two players who primarily have been pitchers this year received starts in the field.

Juco transfer Michael Patman, who had not had an at-bat while seeing field action in two games, started at first base and hit cleanup.

Spanberger, who had made one previous start in the field while receiving six at-bats, was Friday's DH. Spanberger had the only hit among the two.

"I was hamstrung," Hogan said about the lack of available players.

Parmley and senior Trenton Moses extended their school-record streaks.

Parmley pushed his hitting streak to 39 games dating back to last year. He also reached base safely for the 48th consecutive game.

Moses drew a walk to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 52 straight games dating back to last year. He failed to get a hit for just the third time in 32 games this season.

Gibson extended his hitting streak to 16 games.