Southeast Missouri State baseball team strengthens hold on first place in OVC

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team definitely has learned something about the opposition as it has steadfastly held onto the top spot in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.

The lesson was evident when Eastern Illinois scored three runs in the eighth inning Thursday night at Capaha Field.

"They're very scrappy and they're not going to quit," Southeast third baseman Andy Lennington said.

The Redhawks displayed that same character as they scored a run in the bottom of the inning to help thwart the comeback and preserve a 7-5 victory.

"I think when you're in first place, everyone comes at you with their best," right fielder Dalton Hewitt said. "For us, I guess now we're 16-3, we battled through some tough games. I mean, going on we're obviously going to get everyone's best so we just have to battle through and compete."

The Redhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never lost that lead as they improved to 26-11 overall and 16-3 in the OVC.

"We were able to get to their top guy early on, and I think that's the difference in the game," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "Being able to put those runs up early that allowed [starting pitcher] Alex [Winkelman] to settle in and have a little breathing room and not have to pitch with so much pressure. That was important that we came out like that, but I thought that over the course of the game we played a solid game -- nothing spectacular -- but I thought we played solid all the way up until that eighth inning."

Southeast held a 6-2 lead heading into the eighth inning.

Relief pitcher Greg Mosel recorded an out before hitting a batter and giving up a double to first baseman Cameron Berra.

Right fielder Frankie Perrone came through with an RBI single to center field to make it 6-3 before Christian Hull relieved Mosel.

"The one thing we were trying to fix was just getting Greg to set his hands a little closer to his body, and when we did that, he yanked one across his body and hit the guy and allowed them to get a little momentum and made it a little interesting there in the eighth," Bieser said.

Hull walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, and EIU shortstop Dane Sauer got a hit when the ball deflected off Hull's leg to make it a two-run game.

The Panthers' final run scored on a fielder's choice.

Southeast picked up an insurance run in the home half of the inning when Lennington, who tripled to center, was driven in on a pinch-hit single up the middle from Cole Ferguson.

After Southeast's early lead, EIU plated two in the third inning on two hits, a walk and an error.

"I let that third inning blow up on me a little bit, and I've got to be able to control that situation a little bit better," Winkelman said. "But besides that, being able to work out of jams, I was pretty happy with myself."

Winkelman (3-2) pitched seven innings and allowed two unearned runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and two walks to pick up the win.

The Redhawks added to their lead in the bottom of the third on Matt Tellor's 10th home run of the season -- a solo shot to right field.

In the fifth, Hewitt got a base hit to score left fielder Clayton Evans, who led off with a double, and Lennington got a two-out RBI double to make it 6-2.

Hewitt and Lennington each went 2 for 4 in the game with an RBI and a run scored. Gibson was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Hewitt also came up with some big plays in the outfield. He made a diving catch in right field to end the fifth inning to strand two EIU runners, and in the sixth made sliding catch on a ball that would've dropped just fair.

"I thought Dalton played a fabulous game today," Bieser said. "If we talk about the plays that he made in the outfield -- the one that he kind of overran and had to dive back, and the umpire was pointing that ball fair, so that could've been a big situation right there. ... But that play he made in [right] center, that diving play, those were big plays. He got a good jump on a ball later in the game that was deep. And just his at-bats that he took today, going into that [No. 2] hole and just really provided -- he got some spark, some momentum going at the top of the order."

The Redhawks have a 3 1/2 game lead over second-place Jacksonville State, which lost to Tennessee Tech on Thursday.

EIU fell to 11-26 overall and 5-11 in OVC play with the loss. Panthers starter Matt Borens (1-4) suffered the loss.

He allowed seven runs -- five earned -- on nine hits in 7 1/3 innings of work. He had two walks and two strikeouts.

The Redhawks and Panthers have Game 2 of the series at 5 p.m. today at Capaha Field. Ryan Lenaburg (3-2) will be on the mound for Southeast while EIU will start Jake Johansmeier.

"The one thing that I take away from this game is we're playing a very good opponent, and we can't come out and be flat at all," Bieser said. "These guys -- they're very tough in the batter's box, they give good at-bats.

"We've got to play a little bit better defense. I thought our defense got a little rough there during this game. There were a couple plays that I definitely thought we could've made that we didn't make, and we've got to come out and make sure we make those plays because a team like this that continually puts the ball in play, if you give them extra bases, they're going to come and bite you."