Southeast Missouri State baseball team extends winning streak to eight games vs. Salukis

Southeast Missouri State third baseman Andy Lennington mentioned after Tuesday's game against regional rival Southern Illinois Carbondale that Redhawks players had talked about their lopsided loss at the hands of the Salukis a year ago.

The Redhawks lost both meetings with SIU last year -- a 25-3 loss and 3-2 loss.

"We were just talking about how last year they kind of embarrassed us, so we obviously wanted to come out and show them what we're made of," Lennington said. "I mean, we're not the same team we were last year; we're not just going to get pushed over. We knew we were going to come out and fight, and we did that in the first inning. It was big we came out early."

The Redhawks jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 5-4 victory over the Salukis at Capaha Field.

The win was the eighth in a row for Southeast (22-10) and snapped a three-game losing streak to their nonconference rival.

Southeast Missouri State’s Andy Lack fields a ground ball during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game against SIU Carbondale at Capaha Field. Lack tossed the ball to second for a force out to end the inning. Southeast won 5-4. (Adam Vogler)

The Redhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Catcher Scott Mitchell and first baseman Matt Tellor hit back-to-back, one-out singles and left fielder Derek Gibson advanced them with a sacrifice bunt.

Lennington followed with a two-run single to make it 2-0. Lennington reached third on a single by right fielder Dalton Hewitt, who got caught in a rundown that allowed Lennington to score.

Southeast picked up another run in the fifth on an RBI double from Gibson for a 4-0 lead.

The Salukis (17-15) got on the board in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Ryan Rostenhausler. Starting pitcher Alex Winkelman gave up a leadoff single, and an error by shortstop Andy Lack put runners on the corners with no outs. Rostenhausler's flyball made it 4-1.

Southeast Missouri State pitcher Alex Winkelman pitches to an SIU Carbondale batter during the seventh inning. Winkelman allowed four hits over seven innings for his second win of the season.

The Salukis scored again in the eighth. Relief pitcher Greg Mosel gave up a leadoff single, and the runner quickly advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Skylar Cobb relieved Mosel and gave up a single to put runners on the corners. Cobb was then called for a balk to score the runner from third.

Southeast picked up a critical insurance run in the eighth.

Lennington hit a two-out double to right field and moved to third on a balk. Hewitt came through with his third hit of the day to score Lennington for a 5-2 lead.

"After the balk it was 1-0 and I was just looking for a pitch that I could hit over the plate," Hewitt said. "I was just lucky that he made a mistake and I was able to put a good barrel on it, and I couldn't be more happy with the result."

The Salukis made it interesting in the top of the ninth. Leadoff batter Ryan Casillas hit a line drive that bounced off relief pitcher Christian Hull's leg for a base hit.

Designated hitter Cody Daily followed with a two-run home run to pull the Salukis to within 5-4.

Hull struck out the next two batters before giving up a single. He ended the drama and game by striking out third baseman Will Farmer.

"I knew that they were coming at some point," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "They're a very good ball club and they weren't going to go down easy. That's why we had Christian there in the ninth, and we trusted that he was going to hold a three-run lead.

"He didn't make it easy, but he definitely held the lead. He really locked in after -- I thought he made a couple pitches right over the plate and they hurt us when they hit the line drive back through the middle and then Cody Daily takes us deep, but after that Christian really settled down and located a lot better."

Hull recorded his third save of the season.

"As long as we had the lead when I came out I knew our bullpen would be able to handle it," said Winkelman, who got the win to even his record at 2-2.

Winkelman pitched seven innings, allowing one run on four hits. He had seven strikeouts and walked one batter.

SIU's Austin McPheron (1-1) took the loss. He pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits. He walked three batters.

"That's just a dominant performance by Alex, and he's been throwing the ball very well for us," Bieser said. "To only give up four hits to a team like that says something about your stuff and how well you're throwing the ball. I thought he was in command the whole way. He got to the 94 pitches and he was starting to labor a little bit and I think it was the right time to come out. We need him for this weekend on Sunday in case something goes bad with our other starter. We didn't want to push him any further than that, but I think he could've went a little deeper."

The Redhawks, who are in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, return to conference play this weekend against Austin Peay (12-20 overall, 5-7 OVC) in Clarksville, Tenn. The series begins at 6 p.m. Friday.