INDIAN BATS SHELL BILLIKENS 19-8; SOUTHEAST IMPROVES RECORD TO 7-14

The Southeast Indian baseball team picked a cold night to finally get their bats warmed up Tuesday during their first night game at Capaha Field.

The Indians pounded out 18 hits and scored 19 runs, both season highs, on the way to a 19-8 shelling of the St. Louis University Billikens.

"The ball kind of bounced our way," said Indian coach Mark Hogan. "It seems like so far this year most of those things have happened against us so maybe this is something we can build on."

In a game that started almost an hour late due to late arriving umpires, Southeast scored runs in every inning but the first and third. The non-conference win improved the Indians record to 7-14. SLU, which still leads the series against Southeast with a 14-13-1 log, fell to 7-8.

A couple of underclassmen led the Southeast offense, which had only 15 hits during a three-game series with Tennessee Tech this past weekend. Freshman leadoff batter Jeremy Johnson went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI, while sophomore third baseman Kyle Yount ripped a single, double and triple to go 3-for-5.

"When you say Jeremy and Kyle to me now I don't think of them as young players anymore," Hogan said. "Jeremy only has 21 games under his belt, but he's obviously making a big mark for himself, and we knew he would."

Southeast senior Troy Pehle (1-1) started and pitched five strong innings to earn the win. Pehle allowed only two earned runs on seven hits and struck out three.

With the Indians up 2-1 entering the bottom of the fourth, Southeast began to pull away with a four-run inning to make the score 6-1. The Indians batted around in the inning, chasing Billiken starter Michael Schaeffer.

Southeast shortstop LaMonte Collier chased Schaeffer (1-3) when he hit a long double to the right-centerfield gap off the centerfielder's glove to score Lance Craft. Collier and Craft both went 2-for-4.

SLU got a run back in the top of the fifth but the Indians scored three in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a three-base error by Billiken right-fielder Brett Brendensteiner on a Collier fly ball with the bases loaded. The error cleared the bases, putting Southeast ahead 9-2.

In the sixth, Gerwitz singled in Yount and Craft to put Southeast comfortably ahead 11-2. Gerwitz tied a Southeast record in the game when he was hit by the pitcher in his first two at bats. Gerwitz has now been hit by the pitcher 10 times this season. He also went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored.

SLU scored four unearned runs in the top of the seventh following a two-out error by Southeast center fielder Johnson to make the score close at 11-6. But the Indians continued to attack the Billikens' pitching scoring three in the bottom of the inning and five more in the eight to close out the blowout.

Southeast returns to action Friday at Eastern Kentucky where they will play a doubleheader.