Lawrence again leads Southeast Missouri State baseball past Missouri

The Missouri baseball team can't seem to find an answer for Jacob Lawrence.

After a standout effort against the Tigers last season for his only win of the campaign, the Southeast Missouri State right-hander did it again on Tuesday night, pitching eight innings to lead the Redhawks to a 7-2 victory over the in-state foe in Columbia, Missouri.

Lawrence (1-1) allowed one run on six hits while striking out 11. He threw 131 pitches.

"Jacob was fantastic tonight," SEMO coach Steve Bieser said in a press release, "especially considering the strong crosswind and rain he had to deal with throughout the night. He was able to keep their hitters off balance all night.

Lawrence's only win in 2015 came in a start at Missouri in which he pitched 7 2/3 innings and struck out seven.

On Tuesday, the Redhawks (10-7) put together 15 hits in support of Lawrence, with every hitter in the lineup getting at least one hit.

Hunter Leeper went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored, while Ryan Rippee was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and a first-inning home run that opened the scoring.

Trevor Ezell, Garrett Gandolfo and Brian Lees all had two hits apiece for Southeast.

"Our offense picked a good night to put it all together," Bieser said. "It was nice to see every hitter in the lineup pick up a hit, but better to see the quality of the at-bats we were taking. That was a big reason we were able to put up seven runs on a solid pitching staff.

Michael Plassmeyer (1-2) took the loss for Mizzou (13-6). He last 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Liam Carter, Notre Dame Regional High School graduate Graham Ruopp, Ty Shoaff and Griffin Goodrich all pitched in relief for the Tigers.

Brady Wright was on the mound for SEMO for the final inning, giving up one run on two hits with a strikeout and a walk.

Up 1-0 on Rippee's home run, Lees singled and later scored on a Hunter Leeper base hit to give the visitors a 2-0 edge midway through the second inning.

The Tigers responded with back-to-back doubles by Zach Levy and Trey Harris to cut the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the second.

That score stuck until the top of the fifth frame, when Chris Caffrey led off with a single, advanced on a ground out and then scored on an Ezell hit to make things 3-1.

The Redhawks opened the sixth with consecutive hits from Gandolfo, Rippee and Lees to plate another runner, and the advantage was pushed to 5-1 on a Leeper RBI.

Southeast added two more runs in the eighth inning, with Leeper again pushing a runner home before a Daniel Costello double brought the lead to 7-1.

Missouri got a consolation run in the bottom of the ninth.

The top of the seventh was the only inning in which Southeast Missouri State did not record a hit.

The two opponents will face off again today at 4 p.m. to close out a two-game series.