Southeast Missouri State baseball team desperate to claim series today

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team will have a shot at its third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference series victory after splitting a pair of tight games with Jacksonville State.

Southeast won 5-3 on Friday by taking advantage of four unearned runs before the host Gamecocks bounced back Saturday to foil a Redhawks rally with a 4-3 triumph.

The rubber matchup of the three-game series in Jacksonville, Ala., will be at 1 p.m. today.

"Tomorrow's a really important game," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "We've got a chance to win the series against one of the elite teams in our conference."

Southeast (17-31, 8-12), which has won nine of its last 16 games after previously dropping 14 of 15, remained tied for seventh in the 10-team OVC.

Southeast Missouri State pitcher Shae Simmons delivers to a Jacksonville State batter during Friday's game in Jacksonville, Ala. (WAYNE McPHERSON ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian)

The Redhawks are tied for sixth for conference tournament purposes because SIU Edwardsville is not eligible for the event this year. The top six finishers qualify for the tournament.

JSU (21-24, 13-7), which is tied for second place, has won eight straight OVC series dating to last year.

Friday's game was highlighted by Southeast senior shortstop Kenton Parmley breaking Southeast career records for hits and at-bats. He has 290 career hits.

Parmley extended his streak of reaching base safely to 64 straight games.

Southeast All-American senior third baseman Trenton Moses extended his school-record streak of reaching base safely to 68 straight games. Neither the OVC nor NCAA keeps a record for that category.

Southeast Missouri State's Jason Blum scores during the eighth inning Saturday in Jacksonville, Ala.

The Redhawks had chances to hand JSU a rare OVC series loss before today's finale.

But a home run by JSU's Kyle Bluestein on the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a 3-3 tie.

"We had our opportunities," said Hogan, whose squad did not commit an error for the second straight day. "What a game it was. I was really proud of our guys. They played well today."

Southeast trailed 3-1 until the top of the eighth inning when the Redhawks staged an unlikely rally against All-American closer Todd Hornsby.

Moses singled and Hornsby relieved starter Daniel Watts with one out. Redshirt freshman right fielder Jason Blum, the first batter to face Hornsby, singled.

Senior first baseman Kody Campbell's hard-hit ball to right field was tracked down, but senior catcher Jesse Tierney walked to load the bases.

True freshman Ryan Barnes, who was sent up to pinch hit, came through with a two-RBI single after falling behind in the count 0-2.

"What a great effort against the best closer in the league," Hogan said. "Ryan came off the bench cold and came through."

But Bluestein's homer against junior college transfer left-hander Ryan Kendall proved decisive. Hornsby set down the Redhawks in order in the ninth inning.

Juco transfer left-hander Zack Smith turned in his second straight strong OVC start for Southeast. He allowed three runs and four hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked five.

JSU scored in the first inning when a pop fly to short left field fell between several defenders and went for an RBI double.

Smith gave up a homer to Sam Eberle in the fifth inning, which broke a 1-1 tie, and allowed his final run in the sixth inning on a two-out walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch and an infield single.

"Zack threw really well. The ball in the first inning should have been caught," Hogan said. "We really only had two bad pitches by our guys, on the home runs."

Kendall (0-4) took the loss. He allowed one run and two hits over 1 2/3 innings. Senior left-hander Ryan Prickett retired the final two batters in the eighth.

Watts was strong for the Gamecocks. He allowed seven hits and two runs, one earned, over 7 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.

"Watts was off the charts," Hogan said. "We had chances, but he made big pitches."

Southeast's first run, which was unearned, came in the third inning on an RBI single by Moses.

The Redhawks outhit JSU 9-6. Parmley and Moses both had two hits.

Friday

Southeast used strong pitching and timely hitting while taking advantage of shaky JSU defense to win the series opener.

The Redhawks trailed 3-1 entering the fifth inning. JSU opened the door by committing three errors, and Southeast capitalized by scoring four unearned runs on two hits.

Sophomore left fielder Derek Gibson's two-out RBI double tied the contest. Campbell followed with a two-RBI double for the eventual game-winning blow.

"What a great inning we had with a little help from them," Hogan said. "Those were two massive hits for us with two outs."

Junior Shae Simmons (4-4) battled through a shaky start to notch the victory. He was in all kinds of trouble early, thanks partly to control problems. JSU scored two runs in the first inning and added one run in the second inning.

Simmons recovered to fire off three straight scoreless frames. He left after five innings and 121 pitches. He allowed seven hits while striking out four and walking five.

"Shae didn't have his best stuff, but he battled as hard as I've seen him," Hogan said. "After the second inning, I never believed he'd go five for us, but he did."

Sophomore left-hander Christian Hull did the rest. He finished the win with four dominant innings for his second save of the season. Hull allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out two.

"He was fabulous," Hogan said.

Both teams had nine hits. Gibson and redshirt freshman second baseman Andy Lennington led Southeast with two each.

Southeast scored a run in the first inning on Parmley's RBI double and did the rest of its damage in the fifth.

Southeast played errorless baseball, while the Gamecocks committed five errors.