Redhawks soar past Rockets on Cameron’s walk-off homer

Southeast Missouri State outfielder Josh Cameron started Friday’s game against Toledo by robbing a potential home run and ended it with a homer of his own.

On the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth inning, the SEMO senior slammed a walk-off blast to lift the Redhawks over the Rockets 6-5 on March 1, at Capaha Field.

“I was on the heater but he slipped a 0-0 breaker in there,” Cameron said. “It stayed up and I put a good swing on it and got a good result.”

The homer added to the Redhawk’s total of 17 after the first 10 games of the 2024 season, which leads the Ohio Valley Conference. Last year, SEMO was tied with Little Rock for the fourth most in the OVC with 63 home runs.

“It’s a product of approach,” Cameron said. “The home runs come from having a good approach. You can’t go in trying to hit a home run every time. If you do that, you’re going to strike out a lot.”

The Redhawks found themselves down 1-0 after an RBI single by Kaleb Herbert in the second inning. They responded in the third inning on a two-run double by Bryce Cannon, who scored on a single from Peyton Leeper.

Toledo eventually took back the lead in the seventh inning on a solo home run by Scott Mackiewicz. Cameron tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly, only for the Redhawks to once again find themselves down 5-4 to Toledo in the eighth after a sacrifice fly from Brayden White.

An RBI single by Brooks Kettering in the eighth inning set up Cameron’s heroics. The resiliency of the Redhawks was certainly the main story of the night.

“I feel like we’re never out the fight,” Cameron said. “We get punched in the mouth, we’re gonna punch you right back and that’s how you got to play ball.”

Collin Wilma started the game for the Redhawks, lasting 4.1 innings with four strikeouts, three walks, seven hits, and three runs (two earned). Kyle Miller struck out the side in the ninth inning to earn the win.

The Redhawks are built almost entirely of junior college transfers. Cameron, who thrived during his transition from the JUCO ranks to the OVC last year when he hit .300 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI, sees the added value of having a large group of players coming from the JUCO ranks.

“I feel like junior college guys have a different level of hunger to them,” Cameron said. “They just seem to have that fight in them, that JUCO dog in them. There’s no other way to put it. I like playing with guys who that kind of been on the same path as you, such as going to JUCO for a couple of years and advance levels. It seems like you can see eye-to-eye with those guys.”

The Redhawks return to Capaha Field on Saturday with the first game of the doubleheader beginning at noon.