Resurgent Redhawk helps in 12-4 win over UCA

For much of the year, it looked like Zak Blemker might have another lost baseball season.

What would have made it even worse is that Blemker is a senior.

But Blemker has righted the ship just in time as he is heading into the home stretch of his college career with a bang.

Blemker had two hits and reached base four times Tuesday as Southeast Missouri State posted a 12-4 nonconference win over visiting Central Arkansas.

The squads will close out their two-game series at 3 p.m. today in Southeast's final home contest.

"Hopefully we can get that one and keep the momentum going," said Blemker.

Blemker certainly has a lot of momentum going these days.

His 2-for-3 performance Tuesday raised his batting average to .319, which is fifth-best on the Redhawks.

Blemker also boosted his on-base percentage to a team-leading .484, which would rank fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference if he had enough playing time to qualify.

The reason Blemker only has 69 at-bats — less than half the total of many Southeast regulars — is that for the second straight year he got off to a sluggish start offensively.

Last season, the junior college transfer from Vincennes, Ind., started slowly and wound up spending most of the year as a pinch-runner or late defensive replacement.

Blemker batted just .080 in 2007, with two hits in 25 at-bats.

"It was frustrating," he acknowledged.

The versatile infielder thought he had turned the corner by having a big summer season with the Plaza Tire Capahas, capped by his being named to the all-tournament team at the National Baseball Congress World Series.

Blemker began this season in Southeast's starting lineup for the second year in a row — at second base — but again struggled at the plate in the early going, which sent him to the bench.

"The beginning of the year was frustrating," said Blemker, who was also bothered by an ankle injury. "But I just waited for my opportunity."

At one point this year, Blemker was 3-for-32 (.094). He admitted that he wondered if his senior season would wind up similar to his junior one.

"It was in the back of my mind," he said.

But Blemker received a starting opportunity at third base — when freshman Trenton Moses was sick — during the second game of an April 19 OVC doubleheader against Samford.

Blemker began to hit — and he's been a fixture in the lineup ever since, primarily at second base as junior Tony Spencer has moved from second to shortstop and sophomore Nick Harris from short to center field.

Since that 3-for-32 start, Blemker is 19-for-37 (.514). In OVC play, he leads the Redhawks with a .438 average and a .581 on-base percentage.

"I just wanted to take advantage of my opportunities and do my best to help the team win," said Blemker, a Southeast Scholar Athlete.

Said Southeast coach Mark Hogan: "Zak is playing real well, as well as anybody the last month. I knew mentally he could handle it [the early struggles]."

Just about all the Redhawks played well Tuesday as Southeast banged out 16 hits and climbed to 22-21 by winning for the third time in its last four games.

Junior outfielder Tyrell Cummings went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs. Cummings is second in the OVC with 11 homers.

Harris, who is now playing center partly to take some of the side-to-side pressure off the knee he injured early in the season and partly to make room for Blemker in the lineup, went 3-for-5.

Sophomore catcher Jim Klocke had two hits — including his first career triple — and three RBIs.

Moses doubled twice while junior designated hitter Matt Wulfers added two hits.

In addition, redshirt freshman reserve Louie Haseltine got his first collegiate hit, an eighth-inning single. It was only the ninth official at-bat for Haseltine.

"We hit the ball well," Blemker said.

Southeast's pitching, especially the bullpen, also did the job.

After sophomore starter Josh Syberg allowed five hits — but just one earned run — in three innings, four relievers held the Bears (24-26-1) to four hits and two runs over the final six frames.

Junior Josh Manning (2-0) got the win with 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. He was charged with two runs, although one scored after he left the game.

UCA, trailing 6-2, put runners on first and third with nobody out against Syberg in the fourth inning.

Manning came on to get a strikeout and double play as UCA failed to score.

"I'm trying to make the most of my appearances," said Manning, who threw two scoreless innings over the weekend during a key OVC win against Eastern Kentucky.

Junior Ryan Poole and senior Sam Rosener each worked one scoreless frame, while senior No. 1 starter Dustin Renfrow retired two batters.

"We pretty well clicked on all cylinders," Hogan said. "It was one of our better games."