Missed defensive chances do in Southeast Missouri State baseball in regional loss to Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Three plays weighed on the mind of Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser after his team’s NCAA regional opener against top-seeded Mississippi State. Three defensive plays his team probably should have made.

Those three plays — two related to an injury to shortstop Branden Boggetto — made all the difference as the Redhawks fell to the No. 6 national-seed Bulldogs 9-5 in front of a crowd of 9,378 at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Mississippi, on Friday.

The Redhawks held leads of 2-0 and 4-1 after the top of the second and third innings, respectively, but, even behind the arm of ace Joey Lucchesi, couldn't hold on.

Southeast Missouri State's Garrett Gandolfo catches a throw to first base during an NCAA Regional game played against Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, on Friday afternoon.Mary Alice Truitt ~ Columbus Dispatch

The Bulldogs (42-16-1) hit back-to-back two-out singles to right in the bottom of the third before Brent Rooker, who’d homered to put MSU on the board in the second, sent the first pitch he got to center. Southeast center fielder Dan Holst got to the wall in time and even got his glove on the ball, but it bounced out for a game-tying three-run home run.

“First of all, Dan Holst has been one of the best center fielders that I’ve coached in a long time in Division I baseball, and I guarantee you Dan would say the same thing — it’s a play that he should’ve made,” Bieser said.

“I’m not speaking for him, but what I saw was he got a little lax and knew that he was there and just kind of reached up for the ball and what happened was the momentum of the ball carried his glove down to the top of the wall. The ball was in his glove, hit the top of the wall and kicked it out of there. I think he could’ve played it slightly different and I think if he’d have that play to do over again then he’d definitely play it much differently than he played it.”

Tied at 4, the Redhawks loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fourth, but couldn’t plate the go-ahead run.

The next inning saw MSU's Ryan Gridley reached on a fielder’s choice before SEC Freshman of the Year Jake Mangum lined one off Lucchesi to put runners on the corners with two outs.

Jack Kruger hit one back up the middle that hit the second-base bag and Boggetto was able to stop it and get the force out at second, but his hand was stepped on in the process. Boggetto, who was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, didn’t return after that.

Bieser said that it “basically ripped off his thumbnail and he’s got a pretty good gash on his index finger” on his throwing hand, making it unlikely he’ll return for the remainder of the regional.

“I think the biggest thing in the game was when our shortstop went down and we lost the momentum at that point,” Bieser said. “Obviously guys were concerned about him, but it changes us as a defensive club.”

The defensive changes — Andy Lack moved from third to short, Hunter Leeper moved from left field to third and Daniel Costello entered in left — didn’t cause a problem in the fifth, and Southeast went up 5-4 in the top of the sixth when Lack drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out RBI single to right by Chris Osborne.

Jacob Robson led off the bottom of the sixth with a bunt toward third. Leeper’s throw was in time but first baseman Garrett Gandolfo left the bag while attempting the tag and the ball popped out for an error.

The next two batters singled through the right side to tie things at 5 before the Redhawks finally recorded the first out on a 4-6 fielder’s choice, narrowly missing a double play and allowing the go-ahead run to score.

“It’s exactly what I think everybody would do — you test a new third baseman that had to come in from left field, drop a bunt down,” Bieser said. “That to me was the key to the game right there ... bunt it right to our defense and we had an easy throw to make.

"... You can’t give outs. In big games like this you just cannot give outs. Then making that transition for a guy that’s very capable of playing shortstop, but he’s been a third baseman almost all season. He had to move back to shortstop and I think he just [missed] a little bit of the timing of the game to turn those double play balls that we should’ve turned.”

Lucchesi, who threw 85 pitches, hit the next batter before exiting.

“I felt loose, honestly,” Lucchesi said of pitching on short rest. “My arm was feeling really good probably until the fifth or sixth inning. I felt a little bit fatigued but I was trying to man it out.”

The lefty had thrown 119 pitches in a complete-game shutout last Friday and 35 more in relief in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game on Sunday.

Southeast Missouri State's Joey Lucchesi sends a pitch to home plate during an NCAA Regional game played against Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, on Friday afternoon.Mary Alice Truitt ~ Columbus Dispatch

Lucchesi (10-5) allowed seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits and did not walk a batter. He struck out four batters to bring his two-year career total to 242, breaking Southeast’s all-time career record, which was previously held by Southeast Hall of Famer Trae Hastings, who struck out 239 from 1975-78.

“He’s a warrior,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “If you look at this sequence of events — their left-hander, Lucchesi, threw 119 last Friday, he threw 35 on Sunday to help them win the championship in the Ohio Valley, he pitches his tail off today, gets hit in the shin with a ball on a line drive and keeps battling and battling and battling. Hats off to him. He was phenomenal today.

"It was huge for us to get him out of the baseball game. That was one of our goals and I think it was a turning point in the game.”

SEMO again got a chance for an inning-ending double play, but instead settled for a 4-6 fielder’s choice that put runners on the corners.

A wild pitch from reliever Jake Busiek then gave the Bulldogs a two-run cushion.

MSU tacked on two runs in the bottom of the eighth on an inside-the-park home run to center by Kruger, who went 2-for-5.

Mangum, Rooker, Nathaniel Lowe and Gridley each had two hits and Reid Humphreys went 3-for-4.

The Redhawks knocked Mississippi State ace Dakota Hudson from the game after 3 1/3 innings. He allowed four earned runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

“I think when he missed he was definitely missing out of the zone so they were a lot easier takes, and then we were just trying to be aggressive in the zone,” said Osborne, who went 2-for-4. “When he got a pitch that he maybe missed a little bit over the plate we were able to attack it and we got a few good hits off of him early in the game.”

The Redhawks’ final run came off reliever Ryan Rigby before lefty Daniel Brown did not allow a hit over the final 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

“I think he just was commanding his pitches,” Osborne said. “He had multiple pitches for strikes that we had to honor full time.”

Fourth-seeded Southeast (39-20) will face the loser of Friday night’s game between No. 2 Cal State Fullerton and No. 3 Louisiana Tech in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Bieser had not decided on a starting pitcher.

“For us it’s going to have to be just based on who we play,” Bieser said. “Obviously we’re in an elimination, so we’ve got to make sure that we have the best matchup tomorrow to try to extend this thing and that’s kind of the plan is to see the next game and see who gets beat so we can match up the best we can possibly match up.”