Southeast Missouri State baseball team shuts down Arkansas State

The Southeast Missouri State pitching staff, led by Scott City alumni Skylar Cobb who made his starting pitching debut for the Redhawks, dominated Arkansas State batters and combined to pitch a shutout against the Red Wolves on Tuesday at Capaha Field.

The Redhawks pitchers allowed just four hits, struck out 11 and did not walk a batter in a 7-0 victory against the Red Wolves.

Cobb struck out three batters and did not allow a hit in three innings of work.

"It felt good and could not have gone much better for me," Cobb said after making his debut as a starting pitcher for Southeast. "It's not what I'm used to doing, and it felt weird having all that time to warm up in between innings when I'm used to rushing, but my changeup and my slider were decent enough to keep them honest on my fastball, and I think that's what really helped me in this game."

The left-hander, who is usually a solid reliever out of the bullpen for the Redhawks, was removed from the game after the third inning due to a lower back injury he sustained last week during pre-game warm-ups. Cobb said the injury is minor, but pain began to flare up in his lower back during the last at-bat in the inning.

Coach Steve Bieser had planned on having Cobb go another complete inning but did not want to worsen the injury.

"Starting the game out, my plan was to have him go four innings if he was throwing the ball well," Bieser said. "Obviously, he was throwing the ball well and he gave us three solid innings, but being a reliever we didn't want his pitch count to be too high and at this point in the season. When you have a flare up, you don't want to push a guy too hard and cause a serious injury."

Southeast's offense backed up its pitchers with a bevy of hits and runs for their fourth consecutive victory. The Redhawks (18-10) began their offensive attack in the third inning when left fielder Derek Gibson made it 2-0 with an RBI single down the left-field line. The single scored Jason Blum and Scott Mitchell, who had both walked earlier in the inning, and gave Southeast the lead for good.

Gibson, who leads the team in batting average at .423, finished the day 1 for 3 with two RBIs. He attributes his team's ability to score runs to the way they hit as a team.

"The reason we're so successful is because we have no pressure on us at all," Gibson said. "We know for a fact that there are seven or eight other guys in the lineup behind us that can get the job done, so it takes the pressure off of us -- plus, we all take the same approach and look to each other for reads on an opposing pitcher."

Left-handed reliever Christian Hull (2-1) picked up right where Cobb left off, striking out the first three batters he faced in the fourth inning. Hull, the winning pitcher, held the Red Wolves scoreless through four innings of work, striking out seven and allowing just four hits. Hull also retired the side in order in two out of the four innings. In the seventh, Hull snuffed any chance the Red Wolves had of making a comeback. Matt Burgess led off the inning with a single and advanced on a wild pitch. Hull maintained focus and struck out the next three batters to close out the inning.

Southeast added another run in the sixth when Matt Tellor scored on a sacrifice fly from Andy Lennington to give Southeast a 3-0 lead. Tellor led off the inning with a double to the center-field wall and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Gibson. The first baseman, who was named the Ohio Valley Conference player of the week for his four home runs and 11 RBIs in the Redhawks' weekend sweep of UT Martin, went 2 for 3 with a double and a single in Tuesday's victory.

Cole Ferguson led off the seventh inning with a single, advanced to third on a hit by Cole Bieser, then tagged up and scored on a sacrifice fly from Blum.

Bieser advanced to second on the sacrifice, then scored when Mitchell singled to center field.

Alex Siddle allowed one hit in the eighth inning and struck out one batter.

In Southeast's half of the eighth, back-to-back walks to Dalton Hewitt and Alex Burridge, who replaced Ferguson at catcher in the inning, provided another scoring opportunity. Back-to-back singles from Andy Lack and Blum drove in the runners and gave Southeast a 7-0 lead.

Greg Mosel capped off a great performance by the Redhawks bullpen, setting the Red Wolves down in order in his one inning of work in the ninth.

"We got off to a good streak like this with our bullpen early this year," Bieser said. "And now you can kind of start to see that same group of guys throw very well. We threw it and hit it well all week and I credit my coaching staff with keeping mentally and physically prepared."

The win avenged an 8-3 loss to Arkansas State (16-13) sustained Feb. 25 in Jonesboro, Ark.

The Redhawks will resume OVC play at 5 p.m. Friday as they begin a three-game OVC series against SIU Edwardsville at Capaha Field.