Southeast Missouri State baseball team splits first two OVC games vs. Belmont

~ The Southeast baseball team won a 1-0 pitchers' duel on Friday but fell 11-6 on Saturday

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team got its Ohio Valley Conference schedule started with a bang Friday.

Southeast won 1-0 at first-year OVC member Belmont, the defending Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season and tournament champion.

Belmont bounced back to take Saturday's contest 11-6. The squads will conclude their three-game series in Nashville, Tenn., at 1 p.m. today.

The Redhawks, picked eighth in the 11-team OVC's preseason poll, are 9-7. The Bruins, tabbed for second in the league behind defending champion Austin Peay, are 10-4.

In Friday's game, Will Spitzfaden and three relievers combined on a four-hitter as Southeast knocked off OVC preseason pitcher of the year Chase Brookshire despite having only three hits.

It marked Southeast's first shutout since 2011 and first OVC shutout since 2010.

Brookshire (1-1) went all nine innings. The senior left-hander struck out a career-high 11 and walked two.

Spitzfaden (2-1), a sophomore left-hander, allowed three hits, struck out one and walked five over seven innings.

"Outstanding job by both guys," first-year Southeast interim coach Steve Bieser said. "Their lefty was very good, probably one of the best we've seen this year. Both guys were on their game.

"The game was decided by big plays, and the storyline was Will giving us a great start and the bullpen coming in and doing their job."

Spitzfaden issued a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, after which the Redhawks' bullpen continued its sensational work.

Southeast relievers entered the series with a stellar 2.27 ERA. That trend continued Friday.

Senior Tony Zerrusen replaced Spitzfaden. He recorded an out on a sacrifice bunt that moved the tying run to second base and got a second out on a pop fly.

Junior lefty Skylar Cobb, a Scott City High School graduate, came on to record the final out of the eighth inning.

Senior Bobby Hurst notched his second save in as many games and third of the season with an eventful ninth inning.

Hurst allowed a one-out walk and a single before retiring the next two batters to nail down the victory.

"I give our pitching staff all the credit. They did an outstanding job," Bieser said.

The Redhawks scored the game's only run in the fourth inning. Junior first baseman Matt Tellor singled with one out, stole second with two outs and scored on a double by freshman infielder Branden Boggetto.

"It was a great at-bat by Branden," Bieser said.

On Saturday, the Bruins built a 6-0 lead through two innings and held off the Redhawks.

Belmont outhit Southeast 12-10, with eight of the Bruins' hits coming over the first two frames.

Boggetto led Southeast with two hits and three RBIs. Tellor and freshman outfielder Clayton Evans added two hits apiece.

Senior lefty Zack Smith (1-2) allowed seven runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings to take the loss. He struck out two and walked two.

Four relievers followed Smith to the mound.

Junior Hank Williams Jr. fired off scoreless fifth, sixth and seventh innings. He wound up being charged with one run in 3 2/3 innings. He allowed one hit, struck out two and walked one.

Southeast had a big opportunity to strike first when a single, a hit batter and an error loaded the bases with nobody out in the opening inning. But the Redhawks failed to score.

"The key to the game was when we let them off the hook in the first inning," Bieser said.

Belmont used four hits and a walk to score three runs in the bottom of the first. Four more hits led to three runs in the second inning.

The Redhawks made it 6-3 in the third inning, the key blow being Boggetto's two-run single.

Southeast, trailing 7-3, got a fifth-inning RBI double by Tellor and RBI single by sophomore Dalton Hewitt to pull within 7-5.

Southeast put two runners on in both the seventh and eighth innings but failed to score.

The Bruins tacked on four insurance runs in the eighth inning. Boggetto's RBI double in the ninth inning ended the scoring.