Southeast baseball team swept aside by Memphis

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team was swept in a three-game series at the University of Memphis that concluded Saturday.

The Redhawks lost 8-4 on Friday night before dropping both games of a doubleheader on Saturday. Southeast lost 9-5 in the first game on Saturday and 3-2 in the nightcap to fall to 6-6 overall on the season.

Southeast scored first on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning, but starter Tyler Iago, the reigning OVC pitcher of the week, ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth.

The Tigers scored five times in the inning while chasing Iago from the game. He was removed with two outs after throwing 82 pitches and giving up six hits and five runs, although just one of them was earned.

Memphis tacked on another run in the fifth and two more in the seventh while Southeast added single runs in the sixth and eighth innings.

Catcher Cole Ferguson was the only Redhawk to collect multiple hits, going 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The Rehawks fell behind early in Saturday's first game. The Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the first and four more times in the bottom of the second.

Southeast starter Christian Hull lasted just 1 1/3 innings and give up six earned runs on four hits. Reliever Travis Hayes allowed the other three runs in his 3 2/3 innings of work following Hull.

Center fielder Cole Bieser and designated hitter Branden Boggetto both finished with three hits and two RBIs for the Redhawks.

Ryan Lenaburg started Game 3 for Southeast and give up just two runs on four hits over 6 1/3 innings of work.

Southeast scored both of its runs in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Derek Gibson and a squeeze by Jason Blum.

The Tigers replied with a run in the bottom of the sixth and two more in on a two-out, two-RBI single by Tucker Tubbs off reliever Alex Siddle in the bottom of the seventh.

Right fielder Dalton Hewitt singled to start the ninth for the Redhawks, and pinch runner John Logan Zink advanced to third on Gibson's two-out double, but Scott Mitchell lined out to end the game.

"We battled hard all day long, but we just didn't play our best baseball all weekend," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said in a press release from the university's athletic department. "Memphis is a very good defensive team. We hit the ball hard and well, we just couldn't find grass. Our pitching staff had a hiccup this weekend. We know what we need to do; it's time to make things happen, we can't sit back and watch."