Faulty gloves, bats leave Indians stranded

ST. LOUIS -- Southeast Missouri State University's four-game winning streak ended Tuesday afternoon in a 6-4 loss at St. Louis University.

The Indians might have hurt themselves more than the Billikens hurt them. Southeast committed five errors, including three in the first inning, and allowed two unearned runs -- enough to provide the difference on the windy day.

Southeast fell to 16-16, while SLU improved to 10-23.

Southeast coach Mark Hogan was disappointed in his team's defensive effort.

"Five errors. That's not Division I," he said. "It's something that keeps coming up."

The Indians also left 15 runners on base. They left the bases loaded in the seventh, then had two runners on with no outs in the eighth yet scored just one run.

"We had a chance to explode," Hogan said. "We should have scored 14 or 15 runs today."

SLU took advantage of its opportunities. The Billikens scored three runs on one hit in the bottom of the first inning.

Scott Peden added a solo home run for SLU in the fourth inning to make it 4-0.

Southeast got a run in the fourth and two in the fifth, Brent Lawson's RBI single cutting the Billikens' lead to 4-3.

SLU responded almost immediately. Kyle Wort's two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth gave the Billikens a 6-3 lead.

Southeast's Frankie Montiel walked, then scored on a passed ball in the eighth to cut the SLU lead to 6-4.

Lawson entered the game as a pitcher in the bottom of the eighth and put the Billikens down in order to give the Indians hope.

SLU reliever Dave Guntorius, who took the loss on March 10 when the teams met in Cape Girardeau, allowed a hit but no runs in the ninth to get the save.

"Guntorius came in here and basically challenged our guys and finished us off," Hogan said.

Kris Weber recorded the win to improve to 3-2. In five innings, he allowed six hits and three runs, but all of them were unearned. In fact, all four of Southeast's runs were unearned, thanks to four SLU errors.

Derek Herbig took the loss to drop to 2-3. In three innings, he allowed three hits and four runs, two earned. Anthony Maupin gave up three hits and two runs in two innings. Mike Fitch pitched two hitless frames before Lawson finished up.

Southeast outhit SLU 10-6. Lawson, a freshman, had two hits, including a double for the Indians' lone extra-base hit. Eric Horstman, Freddy Lopez and Brady Noll all added two hits.

Hogan felt his team wasted an opportunity, particularly due to the errors.

"We could have covered all those up, as brutal as we were, with a few hits," he said. "We just didn't have anybody come up there and do the job."

The Indians can redeem themselves this weekend with a strong showing against Ohio Valley Conference leader Austin Peay.

Southeast is in a five-way tied for second place at 6-3 and will play host to the 7-2 Governors in a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.

"Today was disappointing in a lot of facets," Hogan said, "but you've got to keep your eyes open. We're one game out of first, and we play the first-place team this weekend."