Free passes doom Redhawks in OVC baseball tourney

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State has fallen into the losers bracket of the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament after just one game for the second straight year.

An Eastern Illinois rally is to blame.

Fifth-seeded EIU overcame a 5-1 deficit after six innings to beat the fourth-seeded Redhawks 10-5 in 10 innings Wednesday in the first round of the six-team, double-elimination event.

"Having the lead going into the seventh, that was a tough loss," junior center fielder Blake Slattery said.

Southeast (30-24) was scheduled for an 11 a.m. elimination game today against either third-seeded Murray State or sixth-seeded Eastern Kentucky.

But those squads never got to play Wednesday's other first-round contest -- the night session -- because of a lights malfunction at Pringles Park.

So the tournament schedule had to be adjusted, with Southeast playing at 12:30 p.m. today following the Murray State-Eastern Kentucky matchup.

Regardless, the Redhawks now face the task of needing to win either five or six straight games to claim the championship.

"We're not going down the road we wanted, but we're going to battle until the end," Slattery said.

Sophomore shortstop Kenton Parmley, who led Southeast with three hits, said the Redhawks are down but not out.

"If we win one game, if we get momentum and confidence, we're liable to bust off 13 or 14 wins in a row," he said.

Southeast coach Mark Hogan described what transpired Wednesday as "just two different ballgames."

The first game went to the Redhawks as they led 5-1 through six innings behind an impressive start from junior left-hander Jordan Underwood.

"A great, brilliant start from Jordan, we had our offense going, it was a well-played game by both sides," Hogan said of the first six frames. "Then with two outs in the seventh the dam broke.

"Give credit to Eastern Illinois. We gave them some walks and they took advantage. They hit the ball hard in some run-scoring situations."

Hogan lamented the nine walks Southeast pitchers gave up, seven over the final four innings by the bullpen after Underwood issued just two walks.

EIU's four-run seventh to forge a 5-5 tie and five-run 10th to break open things were aided by walks.

"Seven walks the last four innings. You're not going to win with that," Hogan said.

Although Southeast made two brilliant defensive plays that helped save potential runs -- diving catches by junior right fielder Louie Haseltine and junior left fielder Michael Adamson -- the Redhawks had four errors. EIU (18-33) scored two unearned runs.

Underwood cruised into the top of the seventh with a 5-1 lead when things turned sour for the Redhawks.

With one out after Adamson's great catch, consecutive singles ended the day for Underwood.

"Jordan pitched his heart out. He ran out of gas," Hogan said.

On came senior Kyle Gumieny, tied for second in the OVC with eight wins. He began the season as a starter but has been strong out of the bullpen in recent weeks.

Gumieny got a fly ball to center on the first pitch he threw, then issued a walk to load the bases. An RBI single and a throwing error made it 5-3 before Ben Thoma's two-run single tied things.

After Southeast missed out on a bases-loaded, one-out chance in the bottom of the seventh as EIU turned an impressive double play, Gumieny issued three straight two-out walks to load the bases in the eighth.

"There were some walks that were uncharacteristic for him," Hogan said.

Freshman closer Shae Simmons, who was named OVC freshman of the year Tuesday, relieved Gumieny and got a strikeout to end the threat.

Simmons also worked a scoreless ninth, but Southeast missed out on some chances. The Redhawks stranded a runner on second in the eighth and runners on first and second in the ninth.

"We had a lot of chances. That happens," Slattery said.

It was on to extra innings and EIU, which has won eight of the past nine meetings against Southeast, came up big in the 10th.

Walks fueled the Panthers' five-run outburst as Simmons issued consecutive free passes to start the frame.

A sacrifice bunt attempt followed. Southeast had the runner nailed at third but the throw was a bit wide for an error, so the bases were loaded.

Simmons got one out, then a perfect suicide squeeze bunt by Ryan Dineen not only drove in the tie-breaking run but went for a hit as the bases remained full.

"Ryan's a really good bunter. It was a great bunt," EIU coach Jim Schmitz said.

Thoma followed with a two-run double to make it 8-5, and Matt Kucharski's two-RBI single off junior Trent Wise -- the runs were charged to Simmons (3-3) -- completed the big inning.

"We kept it close then we chipped away," said Schmitz, whose squad had nine of its 13 hits over the final four innings and did not commit an error.

Southeast finished with 12 hits. In addition to Parmley's 3-for-5 performance, Adamson tripled and doubled while driving in two runs.

Slattery and junior second baseman Tim Rupp both added two hits.

Thoma had three hits and four RBIs for EIU, which stranded 16 runners compared to nine for Southeast.

Today Southeast will attempt to avoid going 0-2 in the tournament for the second straight year after that had not happened since 2005.

"Just one game at a time from here on out," said Hogan in assessing Southeast's situation. "Nothing to look at but tomorrow."