Southeast Missouri State baseball team escapes with win over SIUE in series opener

As Southeast Missouri State right fielder Chris Osborne ran toward the fence on the first-base side of Capaha Field and tracked down a foul ball to end the series opener against SIU Edwardsville on Friday night, there was a good chance that some of the Redhawks finally let out a sigh of relief.

The Cougars were retired in order in the top of the ninth after scoring five runs in the previous two innings, but the Redhawks held off the comeback to take the first game of the series in a 9-5 decision.

It was the eighth consecutive win for Southeast, which improved to 18-8 and 10-0 in the OVC.

"I trusted my teammates," Osborne said. "I knew they were going to come out and compete. The bullpen came out and competed, and even if they're struggling, they're going to be out there doing their best so just put all my trust in my teammates and let them get it done."

Southeast held a 9-0 lead after six innings when starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi was relieved.

The Cougars (4-18, 2-8 OVC) got runners on in the seventh with back-to-back, one-out walks. After a popup, third baseman Andy Lack had a chance to end the frame with a spectacular play. He dove to his left to stop a ball off the bat of Logan Andersen, but his throw to second got away from second baseman Trevor Ezell for an error that allowed SIUE to get on the board.

The Cougars' top hitter, Keaton Wright, then doubled to left to score two more before right-handed pitcher Jared Waldhoff exited the game for Zach Moore.

Skyler Geissinger drove in another when he got a ball to drop in right past a sliding Osborne to cut it to 9-4.

The Redhawks stranded the bases loaded in the home half of the seventh before the Cougars threatened again.

Moore walked catcher Brock Irwin to start the eighth and gave up a single to right before Alex Siddle was brought in to pitch.

The Cougars got one run across on a single through the right before Siddle struck out designated hitter Kailer Smith and coaxed leadoff hitter Alec Skender into a groundout to first.

Siddle walked Andersen to load the bases for Wright, who entered the game with a team-best batting average of .353 and 14 RBIs. Southeast coach Steve Bieser turned to righty Jake Busiek, who got Wright to pop out to second to escape the bases-loaded jam with a 9-5 advantage.

"It's frustrating because we walked a couple of guys down at the bottom of the order and give them a chance to get back in the game," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "We got to a point where we had to get Busiek up, and the situation that we thought could happen with Wright coming to the plate with bases loaded, I mean, we had to have him ready for that.

"It would've been nice with a 9-0 lead that we could get some other guys some work early in the series and not have to show the other team a Jake Busiek or a [Justin] Murphy or somebody that may be more [necessary] in a tight game. That's what we talked about -- if we don't give up the walks, they don't even make the game that close, so we've just got to be better at throwing strikes and challenging guys and that type of game."

Southeast cruised through the first six innings. Lucchesi allowed five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six scoreless innings, picking up the win on the mound to improve to 6-1.

"When Joey's locked in and throwing the ball great, he's dominant, and whenever he's not throwing the ball so well, he's still dominant," Bieser said with a smile.

The Redhawks scored at least one run in each of the first six frames.

Ezell led off the first with a double to left, was bunted to second and scored on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Branden Boggetto to make it 1-0.

Osborne's fifth home run of the season, a solo shot that was crushed to right, put Southeast up 2-0 in the second.

SIUE starter P.J. Schuster issued three straight walks to start the third before first baseman Ryan Rippee plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Designated hitter Chris Caffrey reached on an error, and a run scored to make it 4-0.

Left fielder Garrett Gandolfo made it 5-0 with the third sacrifice fly of the game in the fourth.

Ezell drew a two-out walk in the fifth, and then center fielder Dan Holst was hit by a pitch to plate the Redhawks' sixth run.

Gandolfo and Rippee drew back-to-back walks to start the sixth, and Caffrey singled to left to load the bases.

Gandolfo scored when Osborne was hit by a pitch, and Rippee scored on a 4-3 double play.

Lack singled to center to make it 9-0.

The Redhawks were outhit 9-7 in the contest but drew 13 walks and praise from their coach.

"A lot of patience there. They were unselfish at-bats," Bieser said. "They had chances with runners standing at third base and sometimes hitters just want to pick up that RBI and put a ball in play and they had those opportunities, but they took balls and a couple of them walked."

Bieser pointed out three at-bats in particular that stood out to him for how he's been trying to get the team to think about offense -- Rippee's sacrifice fly on an 0-2 count in the third, Gandolfo falling behind 0-2 and battling back before a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Lack getting behind two strikes before sending a 2-2 pitch to the outfield to score the final Southeast run.

"Those are big at-bats and those are things that we've got to continue to be good at to be a really good club," Bieser said.

The Redhawks, who have won 12 of their last 13, took sole possession of first place in the OVC, as Jacksonville State (18-7, 9-0 OVC) is playing out of conference this weekend.

"Every win's a good win," Osborne said of Bieser's message after the game. "We struggled a little bit, but we were able to pull it together and just keep the wins coming."