Southeast Missouri State baseball team advances in OVC tourney winner's bracket behind Lucchesi's complete-game shutout

JACKSON, Tenn. — Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser was aware that the Joey Lucchesi he sent back onto the mound for the top of the ninth inning of the Redhawks’ Ohio Valley Conference tournament contest against Morehead State on Friday night was a different version of him than he’d seen throughout his two-year career.

For the first time, Bieser saw his left-handed pitcher running on fumes but determined to carry his team to victory after failing to do so in its tournament opener a year ago.

Lucchesi, who became the first player to repeat as the OVC’s Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday, put two runners on in the ninth before coaxing the fourth-seeded Eagles into a game-ending double play to secure a 3-0 victory for the top-seeded Redhawks at The Ballpark in Jackson.

His complete-game shutout was the first in the conference tournament since 2012.

“This year we’ve seen that he went 130 pitches in a game, and he was far from out of gas in that game,” Bieser said. “This is the first time that he’s been out of gas and knew that he was getting by on guts in that ninth inning.”

Lucchesi threw 119 pitches as he improved to 10-4, becoming the first 10-game winner at Southeast since Tim Alvarez won a Southeast single-season record 14 games in 2003.

He started and lost the first game of the tournament for the Redhawks last year, dropping them into the tough-to-recover-from loser’s bracket in the double-elimination tournament for the second year in a row as the conference’s regular-season champion. Bieser said that experience and having a feel for tense moments and nervousness in the postseason helped relax him this time around.

“I was just telling myself, ‘Don’t let up. If that happens, just stay cool, calm and just keep playing hard,’” Lucchesi said. “… I just told myself, ‘Take one inning at a time, three outs at a time,’ and that simplified everything for me.”

Morehead State recorded seven hits in the contest, but never more than one in any inning and didn’t have a runner advance past second base. Lucchesi struck out six batters.

“He just competed and competed against a very good team,” Bieser said. “That’s probably the toughest team in the league to pitch to because they attack so early and you’ve got to really make good pitches early in the count. If you don’t, they let very few fastballs go by and they’re just a super aggressive team, and I think Joey understood that and he was able to expand a little bit and get some soft contact. They hit some balls well, but he stayed with his game and really trusted himself and trusted his defense.”

A failed pickoff throw by Lucchesi in the third was the only error for the Redhawks in the contest. He also picked off a runner to end the fourth.

In their three-game series sweep of the Eagles in the regular-season they committed 10 and miscues and missed plays were something Bieser had harped on most of the season.

After having to shuffle lineups due to injuries and ailments throughout the season, Bieser was pleased with the defensive performance.

Southeast turned two double plays on Friday, had second baseman Trevor Ezell rob the Eagles of a leadoff hit with a leaping grab in the third and had Lack and shortstop Branden Boggetto show nice range at various points in the game.

“Defensively that’s the best defensive team that we can put on the field at this point in the year and it’s a pretty good defense,” Bieser said.

Ezell credited the defense to the “extra level of focus” that comes with having your season on the line.

The only run Southeast needed came in the bottom of the first. Ezell led off with a double down the right-field line, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Chris Osborne.

The Redhawks added two more in the bottom of the fourth. Dan Holst bunted for a single and stole second before Lack drew a two-out walk. Brian Lees, who went 2-for-3, hit an RBI single to right and Ezell, who went 2-for-4, hit one off starting pitcher Aaron Leasher for an RBI base hit.

Leasher (5-4) allowed three earned runs on seven hits with two walks and a strikeout in 3 2/3 innings. The Redhawks mustered just one hit off reliever Patrick McGuff over the final 4 1/3 and struck out seven times.

“I thought our offense was really good in the first half of the game; we were facing a very good pitcher,” Bieser said. “But Patrick McGuff, he has something on us. I mean, we struggle with him every time we face him. I did make the comment to [pitching] coach [Lance] Rhodes, ‘We better win 3-0 because we haven’t touched him for runs in a couple years.’”

The Redhawks improved to 36-18 with the victory and will face No. 2 Jacksonville State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The winner of that contest will advance to the championship round while the loser will have to play an elimination contest at 7 p.m. for the other spot in the championship.

“We were all just out there playing loose and playing hard. Really no fear out there at all,” Ezell said. “We knew we were going to play well, we knew Joey was going to throw well and that’s exactly what he did.”

A decision on the Redhawks’ starting pitcher vs. the Gamecocks has not been decided.

“I really want to sit down and take a long look at it,” Bieser said. “I think the good thing is we’ve got a lot of options right now and just want to make sure that we’re putting our team in the best chance to win with the matchups and just kind of spending some time to go through all of that and figure out what our best option is. With Joey throwing a complete game and everybody that hasn’t thrown yet, they’ll all be ready to go, kind of chomping at the bit, so we’ll see how that pans out.”