Southeast baseball team wins second conference game in a row in final at bat

For the second time in as many games, the Southeast Missouri State baseball team got to sprint out of the dugout to celebrate a walk-off victory.

It was nearly deja vu when third baseman Andy Lennington, who scored the winning run on Friday, sent an RBI base hit to left field in the bottom of the ninth to give the Redhawks an 8-7 win against SIU Edwardsville on Saturday.

The ball was hit to nearly the exact same spot at Capaha Field and the final score was identical to Friday's night series-opening win, when Cole Ferguson sent the winning hit to left in the 10th.

"To be honest with you, I don't know if I've ever been a part of two walk-offs in a row," Lennington said. "It's wild, but it's a little stressful. I'd like the next game to come out and I hope we beat them by more than one run and hopefully not in the last inning -- little less stress on us. But you know, it's part of the game and it's pretty fun to come out on top in a game like that."

Lennington stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the home half of the ninth before connecting on a 1-0 pitch to score second baseman Jason Blum.

"With our scouting report I knew this kid was probably going to throw off speed," Lennington said. "He did the first pitch, and he threw a curveball in the dirt. Then I was just trying to see a pitch over the heart of the plate. He threw me a fastball and it was a little bit down -- I might hear something about that -- but I got a good piece, I put a good swing on it, I was on time and it worked out I guess."

The Redhawks, who have won six in a row, improved to 20-10 and 12-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference to remain in first place in the conference standings. SIUE dropped to 10-18 and 8-6 in conference and remains tied for third in the OVC.

The Redhawks celebrate as they run out onto the field to surround Andy Lennington after his walk-off hit to win 8-7 over the SIUE Cougars on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

Lennington's RBI single was only the fifth hit of the game for the Redhawks and the only hit of the ninth inning.

Blum drew a leadoff walk and first baseman Matt Tellor was walked with one out. Blum was stealing third when shortstop Andy Lack was hit by a pitch to load the bases and put the bat in Lennington's hands.

"The guy that finishes the game is always the guy that gets credit, but for him to get in that position our guys in front of him have to do their job, and that's kind of our motto with our offense," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "To just pass the baton, move it to the next guy, do something positive and hand the baton to him and just keep on passing it down the line."

The way the Redhawks got into a walk-off situation was similar to Friday's game as well. Southeast held a 7-3 lead after seven innings before allowing the Cougars to tie it 7-all in the eighth -- the same thing happened during the seventh inning Friday.

Starting pitcher Ryan Lenaburg gave up back-to-back doubles to start the eighth inning to plate one SIUE run and cut it to 7-4. He hit first baseman Alec Saikal with a pitch before exiting the game.

Perry Middleton entered in relief with two on and no outs. SIUE shortstop Skyler Geissinger sent an 0-1 pitch to left center for a two-RBI double.

Geissinger advanced to third when right fielder Devin Caldwell was retired on a 2-3 putout after he struck out.

Skylar Cobb inherited the runner and had two strikes on pinch hitter Austin Verschoore when he hit a sacrifice fly to center to knot the game.

"Perry made a couple good pitches and just made one mistake where they hit the double," Bieser said. "Skylar came in and did a good job. He was in a perfect position and he just missed his location to give up a fly ball. He had a chance for something better than that. He was a little frustrated with himself there, but they tied it up and we were able to go ahead and Skylar throws a good ninth. I don't think we let up. I just think you've got to give the other team credit for what they did."

Cobb (2-0) retired the Cougars in order in the top of the ninth and was credited with the win. Oak Ridge graduate Brett Thomas (2-2) was tabbed with the loss.

Thomas pitched 1 1/3 innings. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning and pitched a scoreless eighth before being removed from the game after allowing a lead-off walk in the ninth.

The Cougars outhit Southeast 8-5 in the game, but a major contribution to the Redhawks' runs were SIUE's five errors.

The Redhawks capitalized early in the game and were able to put pressure on the Cougars' defense with their baserunning. They had four stolen bases in the first five innings and were able to move up bases on wild pitches multiple times.

"That's the key to today's game," Bieser said. "We did some double steals, we did all kinds of things to create runs in there. They allowed us to get on base, but we really executed to finish it off and score the runs. We did it without hitting today and that's just one more way that we're kind of growing as a team. Whenever somebody is shutting you down as far as getting hits, there's still ways to score and our team has done a good job of being able to score without hits."

Southeast took a 2-0 lead in the first inning without any hits. SIUE's Caldwell answered with a solo shot in the second.

The Redhawks added three more in the second on just one hit and held a 6-1 lead after three innings.

Caldwell hit his second home run of the game -- this time with a runner on -- to make it 6-3 through four innings.

Southeast added the seventh run in the fifth on a Lennington RBI triple.

Southeast didn't commit an error in the game, coming off two errors Friday by Lennington, who had only committed one prior to that this season.

"When we got to the ballpark that's the first thing we talked about," Bieser said. "Andy got a little relaxed yesterday and was kind of flat-footed and had a couple mistakes, and basically said we're not going to let that happen today. We're going to make sure that we're ready to play defense and boy he was pretty superb over there today. He didn't get flat-footed today. He made all the plays and I think everybody. ... I mean, I thought Boggetto played great at shortstop, Jason Blum made some nice plays, and there were a lot of ground balls that we just made the plays on. And that's important for our team to play great defense. If we're going to be what you consider a small-ball type of club, we better play good defense and we better pitch."

Travis Hayes will get the starting nod in Sunday's game. Hayes was scratched from the game last Sunday after he strained his side during a win against Morehead State on March 23.

"Travis has been feeling better and better," Bieser said. "If it's cold I'd be a little more concerned, but hopefully we get a decent day and he gets warmed up and he's able to get in that rhythm and that groove."

First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Capaha Field.