Kennett alum leads No. 5 Arkansas past SEMO

The sixth inning was the difference in the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks’ 12-2 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Tuesday in Fayetteville.

While SEMO lost 12-2 due to the mercy rule, Redhawks coach Andy Sawyers was proud of the way his team looked against the Razorbacks, the #5 team in the country.

“It’s rare to get beat by 10 runs and say you’re proud of your kids,” Sawyers said. “I was proud of how we played today. I’m certainly not disappointed in how we competed.”

The Razorbacks started the scoring early as they took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st.

The Redhawks would respond in the top of the 4th as Josh Cameron drilled a home run to right field.

The game wouldn’t be tied for long as Kennett native Reese Robinett hit a go-ahead home run to give the Razorbacks a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Southeast was able to roll out three freshman pitchers in Eddie White, Gavin Johnston and Jonah Sarabia.

“They’re all pretty talented,” Sawyers said. “Those three are as good as any freshman we’ve signed since I’ve been here and we got them all in the game against a top 5 opponent in the country.”

The bottom of the 6th inning was where things fell apart for the Redhawks as the inning began with an error that then led to 9-straight batters reaching base for the Razorbacks.

“We weren’t able to pitch around (the error),” Sawyers said. “We made an error, then it was a couple of hits, then walks and then it started to snowball on us. Then, we got kind of emotional and we weren’t able to get off the field.”

SEMO (10-13) is back in action at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 24 when the Redhawks travel to Edwardsville to take on the SIUE Cougars in the opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference play.

The game 1 starters project to be Noah Niznik and Jake Bockenstedt, two of the top pitchers in the conference.

“It should be a fun matchup,” Sawyers said. “Runs are going to be hard to come by.”