Osborne's home run vs. Arkansas State lifts Southeast Missouri State baseball team to 11th consecutive victory

After each game Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser gathers his players outside of their dugout to dissect what just happened.

He goes over the good and the bad while it's still fresh in their minds.

Except with his team huddled up outside their third-base dugout at Capaha Field on Tuesday night Bieser strayed from his usual postgame chat.

"It was simple," Bieser said of his message. "I just said, 'I love you guys,' and that was it."

Even though there were a few elements of his team's performance against Arkansas State that weren't ideal, the Redhawks had just come back thanks to a three-run home run by pinch hitter Chris Osborne to win their 11th consecutive game with a 4-2 victory over the Red Wolves.

"Tonight was special," Bieser said. "When you come back like that and kind of have your back against the wall, and not that I didn't think we were going to score one run in a couple innings, but the fact that we're facing one of the best -- this guy has a track record of not giving up leads -- and to be able to come back and get that three-run homer off of him, it's pretty special, and I did not want to ruin their night with me telling them, 'We've got to do a better job getting the ball in play,' or 'We've got to do a better job getting sure outs.' They didn't need to hear that tonight. We'll fix those things in practice tomorrow."

ASU took its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth. Reliever Jake Busiek issued a leadoff walk to third baseman Jake Bakamus, who stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, before striking out the next two batters. First baseman Matt Burgess worked a full count before singling through the left side to drive in Bakamus and put the Red Wolves up 2-1.

The Redhawks faced Tanner Ring, who moved from shortstop to the mound, in the home half of the inning. The senior righty entered the contest with a 1-0 record, three saves and had not allowed a run this season in nine appearances. He'd allowed eight hits, issued five walks and struck out six.

Shortstop Branden Boggetto drew a one-out walk before Gandolfo, who finished the night 3-for-3, hit one that skipped over the first baseman's head and moved Boggetto to third.

Scott Mitchell came in to pinch hit and laid a bunt toward first base, but Boggetto was ruled out at home on a questionable call.

Osborne then stepped to the plate and sent the first pitch he saw high to right center. Even he wasn't certain it was headed out as right fielder Ty White continued to run back to make a play on it, but it made it over the wall for a three-run shot that put Southeast up 4-2.

"I had been on the bench and we were trying to look for tendencies in the pitcher there, and we were able to get a few," Osborne said. "I was just sitting fastball there and trying to make contact with it, and good things happened."

It was the sixth home run of the season for Osborne, which is the most of any Redhawk.

"That kid's unbelievable, man," Gandolfo said. "He battles through injuries and always stays prepared on the bench, knows his role and he's just come up with big hit after big hit for us and it's unbelievable."

Things got interesting in the top of the ninth when closer Justin Murphy issued a four-pitch leadoff walk. Ring's replacement at short, Tim Seldomridge, then smacked one toward first base that Brian Lees, who'd just moved to first from catcher, knocked down into foul territory before recovering and diving to the bag to get the first out as the runner advanced to second.

White then hit one right at Murphy, but he couldn't find it and White reached on the infield single. Murphy struck out the next batter and a fly ball to center ended it. He improved to 3-2 with the win.

"I think the biggest thing for Murphy is just the fact that I hadn't used him enough in the last couple weeks, and it seems like he lost that edge that he had," Bieser said. "We talked and I told him that we're going to start using him whether it's a situation we would normally use him in or not. We know he has to get out on the mound to keep that rhythm that he has, and that's what I saw. He looked really rough early on -- I wasn't sure if I was going to get through that last inning with him by the way he was looking. All of a sudden we get the out at first and things start looking a little different. Then the last two hitters you see the guy that we've seen all year, and that's good to see."

Southeast held a 1-0 lead after three innings when center fielder Dan Holst belted a two-out solo home run to right.

The Red Wolves (13-15) tied it up at 1-1 in the top of the fourth with back-to-back, two-out doubles off starter Jacob Lawrence, who'd retired the previous 11 batters.

Lawrence went 6 2/3 innings, and that was the only earned run he allowed on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Twice Gandolfo lost track of routine fly balls in left -- once to the second batter of the game and again with one out in the top of the sixth -- that went as hits against Lawrence. He escaped without damage both times, including a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play in the sixth when Boggetto made a nifty pick at short to start the play.

"I thought Jacob was just outstanding. We had three balls that went up in the air that should be automatic outs and we didn't catch those balls -- two in left and one over at first," Bieser said. "Those are three outs. That's an extra inning in a game that he had outs for and we didn't get them for him. He kept his cool and he pitched around those mistakes. ... That's just a veteran move by Jacob Lawrence, knowing that he's in control and that he's going to get out of it somehow. I think he's the difference in tonight's game, without a doubt."

The Redhawks had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Gandolfo led off with a triple to the wall in center, but the next three Southeast batters were struck out by starter Bryan Ayers.

Reliever Zachary Patterson struck out the side in the seventh before the Redhawks finally broke through in the eighth.

"All I can say is frustrating," Bieser said of stranding Gandolfo. "Give their pitcher credit, he's a good pitcher, but that's frustrating. We've got to compete better than that, and we've got to find a way to get a ball in play. ... We've talked about that. We're going to continue to work on that. I know it's tough, it's not easy, but we've got to be better at doing that."

Southeast improved to 21-8 on the season and has won 15 of its last 16 contests. The Redhawks take a 12-0 Ohio Valley Conference record to Clarksville, Tennessee, this weekend for a three-game series vs. Austin Peay (16-11, 8-4 OVC).

Game 1 is set for 6 p.m. Friday with the other games scheduled for 1 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday.

"It's a different person every time coming up big," Osborne said of the team's success. "I think everyone in the lineup can contribute and our pitchers have been just pitching great. Everyone's going out there getting quality starts and our bullpen's shutting it down for us. Everyone's doing their job, which is great."