Southeast Missouri State baseball team falls to SIU in walk-off fashion

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The challenge issued to the Southeast Missouri State baseball team by fourth-year coach Steve Bieser was to come out and get a few runs on the board in the first inning.

The Redhawks accomplished that, putting up four first-inning runs against regional rival Southern Illinois but failed to play with the same energy they started the game with, and the Salukis came back to post a 6-5 walkoff win Wednesday night at Itchy Jones Stadium.

"They did that, and it was almost like they took a deep breath and just kind of tried to cruise through this game and just let the other team back in it," Bieser said. "We had a chance to kind of bury them early, and I thought we took a deep breath and kind of relaxed. And all of a sudden in the ninth inning here we are, tie ballgame.

"That's the disappointing part about this game. When you've got a chance to bury somebody, you've got to keep the pedal down and keep having good at-bats."

The Redhawks plated four runs in the top of the first inning and held a three-run lead after one.

SIU trimmed it to 4-3 in the bottom of the third. Center fielder Dyllin Mucha hit a one-out double, and starting pitcher Jacob Lawrence's pickoff throw to second hit off the bag and was quickly recovered by second baseman Trevor Ezell.

Ezell's throw to third baseman Hunter Leeper beat Mucha, but Leeper dropped the ball.

After a walk and a stolen base, first baseman Logan Blackfan drove in two to make it a one-run game.

Southeast got a run back in the top of the fourth with an RBI single down the first-base line from catcher Scott Mitchell.

The Salukis knotted it at 5 in the bottom of the seventh. Pinch hitter Ryan Smith drew a leadoff walk off reliever Adam Pennington. Jake Hand followed with a single to right center that was bobbled by right fielder Dan Costello, allowing both runners to move into scoring position. A couple of groundouts drove them in.

"Our pitchers are doing a pretty good job early in the season, but we know how the leadoff works. And leadoff walks kill you, and that's what got us in the seventh there to get them to tie it back up," Bieser said. "Even before that, we give them two runs when we've got a guy dead to right at third base on a throw, and we can't make a catch and a tag. Those types of things are leading to losing baseball."

Kopach led off the bottom of the ninth with a double off RHP Brady Wright to the wall in left field and was bunted to third before Southeast intentionally walked Hand.

Bieser brought in Jake Busiek to face Blackfan for the lefty on lefty matchup. Blackfan sent a 1-1 pitch to right field and Kopach scored the game-winner on the sac fly.

"We wanted to stay off the plate, no strikes, and see if he would get himself out," Bieser said of the decision to pitch to Blackfan, who finished 2 of 3 with 5 RBIs. "We were looking for a strikeout right there. He threw a really good first pitch, and then the second pitch squirted on him a little bit and left it up in the zone.

"We wanted to go hard away outside the strike zone and see if he'll reach and maybe hit into a double play, and Jake wanted to go back to that slider and he just kind of left it up and that's the one place we can't have it because it's going to get up in the air. ... I think the thing about it is we should've never got to that situation in the ninth inning."

Dan Holst went 3 for 4 at the plate with a run and an RBI.

He drove in Garrett Gandolfo to make it a 2-0 game in the first. DH Kylar Robertson followed with a high chopper to the pitcher, who threw to first while Ryan Rippee made his way home.

Blackman's throw home was off the mark, and when no one went to get the ball in foul territory, Holst raced home from first to make it 4-0.

He also led off the sixth by beating out a throw from second to first, but his effort was erased with a double play.

"Dan Holst is playing the game the way it should be played, and I'm hoping that we've got other guys really watching how he plays the game because that's key," Bieser said. "The way he plays the game is just full-speed all the time, you can tell he's having a lot of fun. He really enjoys being out there, and I think sometimes that guys just need to see that. We need to play the game like Dan plays the game, and that's how everybody should be playing the game.

"He's an energizer to our club. I love every time he comes to the plate. I feel good when he steps up to the plate and you want to have nine guys that every time they step up to the plate you feel good and right now we're just not clicking on all cylinders. We're having a lot of guys struggle. A lot of guys that have proven they're good hitters at this level are just kind of scuffling right now. They're just very inconsistent."

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Redhawks, who dropped to 4-4 on the season. SIU improved to 5-3 and extended its winning streak to four.

"The last two teams that've been here, and I was part of one of them, were excellent, and right now we're not playing excellent," Rippee said. "We've got big shoes to fill from the teams that've been here in the past, and we're going to start living up to that."

Southeast hosts Central Arkansas in its home opener on Friday. First pitch for Game 1 of the three-game series is set for 3 p.m. from Capaha Field.

"Obviously it was a tough one to lose, but I just think the consensus of all of us is we need to start playing a little harder, play a little bit more together," catcher Brian Lees said. "Once you start doing that, good things will happen."