Good ‘humans’ push Redhawks to OVC semifinals

In a battle between the top two offenses in the Ohio Valley Conference, Southeast Missouri State proved it had the superior bats by defeating Morehead State 9-4 on Thursday, May 23, in Marion, Ill.

The Redhawks advance to the semifinal round of the OVC Tournament at noon, on Friday, where they will take on Jackson native Lane Crowden and the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana.

The Redhawks extended their winning streak to six and 10 of their last 11.

“When a team goes on a run late in the year it’s not usually because the baseball gets good,” SEMO head coach Andy Sawyers said. “It’s because the humans are good. I’m proud of the character and I’m proud of what they're doing right now.”

The Redhawks jumped on the Eagles’ pitching and scored three runs in the first inning and five in the sixth. Caleb Corbin hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Keoni Coloma hit a solo homer in the second inning to give the Redhawks a 4-1 lead.

“I think it was just team at-bats strung together,” SEMO outfielder Josh Cameron said. “We had to get a feel on where they're attacking us and what we need to do to adjust to how they're pitching us. I feel like we had a stretch there where you're caught in between a little bit but as the game went on we seemed to dial it back in and got back out ahead.”

The Eagles struck back to tie the game 4-4 after Isaias Guzman homered in the fourth inning and OVC Player of the Year Roman Kuntz hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning.

The Redhawks took back control of the game for good in the sixth inning with a five-run inning. Base hits from Cameron and Seth McGahan led to three runs.

Ian Riley, who was mainly a bench player, started in centerfield and capped the rally with a two-run home run.

“It hasn’t been this year but I thought he was gonna have a great year and be our everyday centerfielder,” Sawyers said. “But he may be one of our best humans. He’s an amazing teammate. He’s an amazing human. There was never a day where he pouted and felt sorry for himself. He just kept working and doing the right things and the game gave him an opportunity and he gets to start in a conference tournament game and hit a home run.”

Colin Wilma threw the last three innings of the game and held the Eagles without a hit.

“I was trying to get the ball to (SEMO closer Kyle) Miller,” Wilma said. “They gave me the ninth so I’m happy I got it.”

Wilma, who was a starting pitcher last season, has thrived in his role in the bullpen. A role that Sawyers put him out of necessity at the beginning of the season.

“We lost some bullpen pieces and we were losing games at the end, and I went to our fifth-year senior, who earned the right to be our Friday starter, and put him in the bullpen because that’s what the team needs,” Sawyers said. “That’s not what he wanted to do but that’s what he did for the team. And then you look up and one of our biggest wins of the season and he’s up there being perfect for innings.”

Hayden Dow started the game for the Redhawks and immediately got in trouble in the first inning with the bases loading up after two walks and a single. That prompted Sawyers to meet his senior on the mound and try to provide levity to help him regain composure.

“He didn't laugh,” Sawyers said, “and I think I'm pretty funny. So if you don't laugh at my jokes, I don't know what your problem is. I just tried to make him laugh. I thought he was pretty tight and pretty tense. But he settled in and gave us four. So he did he gave us a chance to win, and that's all I can ask for.”

After preparing for the tournament, the Redhawks went to see a movie together to get hyped for the upcoming battles.

“I can tell you that the boys were ready to go,” Wilma said. “We saw ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ yesterday, and we brought that energy to the game today and obviously it turned into a win.”

“Great movie,” Cameron said. “Some people didn't think so, some people thought so. I mean, great story, I thought.”