Southeast Missouri State baseball team routs UTM 13-0

The Southeast Missouri Sate offense made Skyhawk Stadium look relatively small on Friday, while Redhawks pitchers had the opposite effect.

Southeast blasted three home runs and collected six extra-base hits, while starting pitcher Tyler Iago and two relievers held the University of Tennessee Martin scoreless in a 13-0 rout in the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.

Junior right fielder Dalton Hewitt started the offensive by leading off a four-run third inning with his first home run in his three seasons at Southeast. Senior left fielder Derek Gibson, already a two-time OVC Player of the Week this season, added a two-run blast in the inning and senior first baseman Matt Tellor capped the game's scoring with a three-run blast in the seventh inning.

Southeast (15-10) finished with 14 hits as it improved to 8-2 in OVC play and remained unbeaten through its first seven conference road games.

Senior center fielder Cole Bieser accounted for three of the hits, while Gibson, Tellor and Hewitt all had two hits. Tellor finished the day with four RBIs, while Gibson added three RBIs to run his team-leading total to 30 -- 20 have come in OVC play.

Sophomore catcher Drew Erie had three of the eight hits for UTM (3-20, 2-8).

Iago (4-1), a junior right-hander, struck out 10 batters over seven scoreless innings. He allowed seven hits and did not walk a batter.

Garret Stockton, a junior, allowed one hit in the eighth inning and junior Perry Middleton pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the shutout.

UTM starter Taylor Cox lasted 5 1/3 innings. The junior left-hander allowed 10 runs, including eight earned, in falling to 0-6 on the season

After Hewitt's blast to right-center field, sophomore shortstop Andy Lack walked and Bieser replaced him on base by reaching on a fielder's choice. Bieser stole second and scored on a two-out double by Tellor. Gibson followed with his third home run of the season, a two-run blast to left field that made the score 4-0.

Southeast chased Cox in a six-run sixth in which it sent 11 batters to the plate.

Sophomore catcher Scott Mitchell opened the inning with a single to right field and stopped at second on a one-out single by Hewitt. Lack singled to score Mitchell, then executed a double steal with Hewitt, who scored on the play for a 6-0 lead.

A single by Blum scored Lack and ended the day for Cox.

Chris Flores relieved and immediately tossed an errant pickoff throw that scored Blum for an 8-0 lead. Bieser singled and Flores hit Tellor with a pitch to set up an RBI double by Gibson. Junior Andy Lennington's sacrifice fly scored Tellor for a 10-0 lead.

Tellor's team-leading sixth home run in the seventh inning scored Lack and Blum, who both drew walks off of Flores. The blast increased Tellor's RBI total to 26 on the season.

Iago struck out the side in the seventh inning, including the final two batters with the bases loaded.