Parmley's blast rallies Southeast Missouri State baseball team to Friday win

Kenton Parmley didn't let Tennessee Tech pitchers get away with their wild streak.

Parmley, Southeast Missouri State's record-setting senior shortstop, had the Redhawks' only hit in the seventh inning Friday.

It was the biggest blow of the day and one Southeast coach Mark Hogan called "the hit of the year for us."

Parmley's two-out grand slam broke a tie and sent Southeast past visiting Tennessee Tech 9-6 in the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.

"It felt good," Parmley said.

Southeast Missouri State starting pitcher Shae Simmons throws a strike to Tennessee Tech's Austin Wulf during Friday's game.

The Redhawks, who won for the fifth time in seven games after previously losing 14 of 15, captured the first game of an OVC series for the first time in five tries.

"I feel like we're growing as a team," Hogan said.

Southeast rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 4-4 deadlock before falling back behind 5-4 entering the bottom of the seventh.

Redshirt freshman right fielder Jason Blum and true freshman DH Ryan Barnes drew consecutive one-out walks. A wild pitch put runners on second and third, but true freshman reliever Seth Lucio struck out the first batter he faced for the second out.

Senior catcher Jesse Tierney, who had missed the past seven games with mononucleosis, walked to load the bases. Sophomore center fielder Cole Bieser was hit by a pitch to force home the tying run.

Up stepped Parmley, Southeast's leadoff batter who had extended his school and conference record hitting streak to 46 games earlier in the game.

Parmley fell behind against the hard-throwing Lucio one ball and two strikes but worked the count full.

"He shook off a pitch and I figured he'd come in with his best pitch, which was a fastball," Parmley said.

Parmley was right on the money. Lucio served up a fastball, and Parmley seemed to send it back harder than it came in, crushing the delivery beyond the left-center field wall at spacious Capaha Field.

"I was sitting dead red," said Parmley, who also had a grand slam during last weekend's OVC series at Morehead State.

Parmley figured the Redhawks deserved some wildness from opposing hurlers since Southeast's pitching staff has struggled with control most of the season.

"It's always nice to get free bases," Parmley said. "We've had that happen to us."

It happened again Friday. Southeast issued seven walks, including a bases-loaded free pass in the top of the seventh that allowed Tech to snap a 4-4 tie.

But sophomore left-hander Christian Hull, who gave up that go-ahead run on two hits and two walks, bounced back to finish the contest and notch the win.

"I had a little command problem at the beginning, but I settled down," Hull said.

Hull (3-6), who was used strictly as a reliever as a true freshman last year, had been a starter all season before being moved to the bullpen following last weekend. He notched his first career save Tuesday against Arkansas State.

"Whatever I can do to help the team win," Hull said. "I feel good coming out of the bullpen, just letting everything go."

Hull, who also allowed a ninth-inning run, gave up five hits during his three-inning stint. He struck out five and walked two.

"He's kind of picked up from what his role was last year," Hogan said. "He didn't have as good a stuff as he had against Arkansas State, but he threw some really big pitches."

Another pitcher who moved out of the starting rotation following last weekend, junior college transfer left-hander Ryan Kendall, worked a scoreless sixth inning.

"I thought Kendall gave us a big inning to get the game to Hull," Hogan said

Junior right-hander Shae Simmons, Southeast's ace who notched the Redhawks' first three OVC victories, went the first five innings and threw 110 pitches.

Simmons allowed four runs and six hits while striking out seven and walking four. He leads the conference in strikeouts.

"He's thrown a lot of pitches his last few starts, and we just didn't want to extend him today," Hogan said. "But he battled and did a good job."

Southeast's only other scoring inning was the fifth when the Redhawks used five hits to plate four runs and erase Tech's 4-0 lead.

Sophomore left fielder Derek Gibson had the big blow of the frame, a three-RBI double. Senior All-American third baseman Trenton Moses added an RBI single.

Moses extended his school-record streak of reaching base safely to 59 games although neither the OVC nor NCAA keeps a record for that statistic.

Gibson pushed his hitting streak to 23 games. He also made two impressive catches in left field, including a diving grab, that likely prevented several runs.

"Those were two huge catches," said Hogan, whose squad also got a diving stop for an out by senior second baseman Taylor Heon and did not commit an error for the second straight game. "We played well."

Parmley, Moses, Heon and senior first baseman Kody Campbell all had two of Southeast's 11 hits.

Tech also had 11 hits, led by sophomore first baseman Zach Stephens, senior shortstop Chad Hayes and freshman second baseman Dylan Bosheers with two each.

"To fall behind 4-0 and come back, it was an impressive win for us," Hogan said.