Southeast Missouri State baseball team evens pivotal OVC series with victory at Jacksonville State

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team moved back into first place in the Ohio Valley Conference as it evened its three-game series with Jacksonville State with a 13-6 victory on Saturday.

The Redhawks (28-11, 17-3 OVC) scattered 20 hits and didn't commit an error, and reliever Adam Pennington turned in a solid performance in the pivotal conference matchup in Jacksonville, Alabama.

JSU dropped to 26-12 and 14-3 in the OVC.

"This Jacksonville State team has a lot of pride and confidence and they never feel they're out of the game," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said in a press release. "With the wind blowing out, I think neither one of us thought this game was too out of reach; even in the late innings when we opened it back up, it just takes a couple miscues and a couple walks to make it a game again. I need to give our guys a lot of credit, they kept the hammer down and kept pushing to finish this game out."

Southeast held an 8-1 advantage after three innings. The Redhawks scored a run in both the first and second and then added six in the top of the third on six hits, including four doubles, to knock starter Jack Pierce from the game after 2 1/2. He was tagged with five earned runs on eight hits and struck out one as he dropped to 3-2 with the loss.

JSU cut the lead to six when a run scored on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth.

The Gamecocks chased starting pitcher Clay Chandler from the game in the fifth. He gave up a double, single and walked a batter to load the bases with no outs before Taylor Hawthorne hit a grand slam to right to cut it to 8-6.

Chandler recorded an out and then gave up a single before he was pulled. The 4 1/3 innings was his shortest outing of the season and he allowed a season-high six runs on nine hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Reliever Adam Pennington gave up a single but nothing else to keep the Redhawks' lead intact going to the sixth.

An RBI single by Hunter Leeper extended it to 9-6 in the top of the sixth and the Redhawks plated three more in the seventh.

Dan Holst had an RBI double and advanced to third on a throwing error by the shortstop. Branden Boggetto drove him in and scored after back to back singles by Garrett Gandolfo and Chris Caffrey to make it 12-6 Southeast.

Brian Lees hit a solo home run to left in the top of the eighth for the final score.

Pennington improved to 3-0 as he picked up the win in relief. He pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out a pair. He did not walk a batter.

He picked up a save on Tuesday, allowing one hit over the final four innings of the game.

"It's been quite the week for Adam," Bieser said. "He has been throwing the ball outstanding. I really wish we could've gotten him through with a few less pitches so we can bring him back Tuesday but more than likely, he will be finished until next weekend. He is a great weapon to have in the bullpen when a starter doesn't have his best stuff."

JSU finished with 13 hits in the game. Hawthorne went 3-for-5 with five RBIs. Elliott McCummings also went 3-for-5.

Every Southeast player recorded a hit in the win. Leadoff hitter Trevor Ezell was the only Redhawk who didn't have multiple hits, but he had two RBIs and drew a walk.

Holst, Boggetto, Leeper, Lees and Chris Osborne each had two hits. Gandolfo and Caffrey were each 3-for-6 and Andy Lack was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.