Renfrow tosses gem as Redhawks win OVC opener

PADUCAH, Ky. — Dustin Renfrow believes he has thrown the baseball just as well this season as he did a year ago.

For whatever reason, the results have not been there.

But Southeast Missouri State's senior right-hander had everything going his way Wednesday night in arguably the most important game of the Redhawks' campaign.

Renfrow pitched all nine innings as the sixth-seeded Redhawks beat third-seeded Austin Peay 5-2 in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"You couldn't ask for a better game from him," catcher Jim Klocke said. "It's probably the best I've seen him throw."

Southeast (24-24) advanced to today's 6:30 p.m. winner's bracket semifinal against top-seeded Jacksonville State (36-19), which received a first-round bye in the six-team, double-elimination event

"It's really good to stay in the winner's bracket," first baseman Matt Wagner said. "We got some big hits, we played good defense and Dusty really threw well for us."

Renfrow was 5-1 with a 2.46 ERA last season after transferring from junior college. He had the OVC's third-best ERA and earned second-team all-league honors.

Although Renfrow has had several strong performances this year, he entered the OVC tournament 5-5 with a 4.96 ERA.

"I actually feel like I've thrown a lot better this year than last year," Renfrow said. "I just don't think I've had the luck. For whatever reason, guys have had a little more success against me."

Renfrow needed no luck Wednesday as he fired his fifth complete game of the season, including his second nine-inning complete game.

Renfrow allowed seven hits, striking out six and walking none. He threw 120 pitches, 76 for strikes.

"My split [finger] was on tonight," said Renfrow, who gave up single runs in the first and sixth innings. "I was able to throw it for strikes."

After running into some trouble in the eighth inning — Austin Peay stranded two runners — Renfrow finished off the gem with a perfect ninth, including two strikeouts.

"I was really wanting to finish," Renfrow said. "I felt strong in the ninth, as strong as in the first inning."

Said Southeast coach Mark Hogan: "You can't get much better than what Dusty did tonight. And we played really well overall. It might have been our best performance of the season."

Renfrow benefited from solid defense as the Redhawks committed no errors while receiving strong plays from Wagner, second baseman Zak Blemker and freshman third baseman Trenton Moses.

"Dusty was huge tonight, our offense got some hits when we needed and the defense was strong," Blemker said. "It was a good team win."

Southeast had nine hits against defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Austin Peay (27-28), which won two of three from the Redhawks in late April. All three games were decided by one run.

Justin Wheeler and Tyrell Cummings both had two hits for Southeast.

The Redhawks never trailed Wednesday. After the squads exchanged first-inning runs, Southeast took the lead for good with three in the top of the sixth.

Wheeler led off with a double and Klocke walked. Wagner followed with an RBI single. With two outs, Blemker delivered an RBI single and Wagner later scored on an error.

"Justin got us going in the sixth, and we got some other big hits," Wagner said.

Ahead 4-2, the Redhawks added a big insurance run in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Matt Wulfers led off with a single, Tony Spencer sacrificed and Nick Harris delivered an RBI double that scored pinch-runner Daniel Schuh.

Now the Redhawks will turn their attention to Jacksonville State, which romped to the OVC regular-season title by going 23-4 and setting an OVC record for conference wins.

The Gamecocks, riding a nation-best 16-game winning streak, swept a three-game series from Southeast in mid-April in Jacksonville, Ala.

Southeast fell to the Gamecocks 16-6, 4-3 and 10-7, although the Redhawks held leads in every game.

"We were in the games with them," Blemker said. "If we play well, I think we can beat anybody."

Hogan said he will start senior right-hander Ivan Nails (2-3, 7.68 ERA) against JSU sophomore right-hander Ben Tootle (10-2, 4.00), a first-team all-OVC selection.