Southeast Missouri State baseball team wins its first home series

More than two weeks into the 2016 season, Southeast Missouri State transfer Robert Beltran finally was able to show Redhawks fans he has more than a promising name.

On Sunday, the junior who shares the surname of major league star Carlos Beltran, put his left arm on display to a crowd of 976 fans at Capaha Field that should serve the Redhawks well as they soon begin their quest for a third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title.

The junior capped a weekend of dominant pitching for Southeast in its home-opening series, striking out seven Central Arkansas batters and allowing just one run over seven innings of a 6-2 Redhawks victory.

Beltran issued just one walk and allowed six hits in a 101-pitch performance that ended when he yielded a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Chris Townsend top open the eighth inning.

"It was exciting," Beltran said. "I love the atmosphere. It's nice pitching in front of the home crowd."

Southeast Missouri State's Dan Holst scores on a wild pitch as Central Arkansas pitcher Chris Durham takes the throw from catcher Justin McCarty during the third inning Sunday at Capaha Field. Southeast won 6-2.WAYNE McPherson ~ Special to Southeast Missourian

The transfer from Arizona Western opened with three hitless innings, allowing room for a Redhawks offense that was shut down a day earlier to find its footing. Southeast did just that with two runs in both the second and third innings in taking a 4-0 lead.

"Everything was working really well for him today," said Southeast catcher Scott Mitchell, who supported his battery mate with two hits and two RBIs. "He threw the ball really well. He mixed in and out, and his changeup was working all game. He was getting guys out front."

It was the third start of the season for Beltran, who improved to 2-1.

"It's been his best outing for us, but I still think there's more in the tank," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "I've seen him throw better than what he's thrown today, and that's promising -- that he was able to get good Division I hitters out and just kind of be a little bit above average for him."

Central Arkansas, which had been 5-0 against OVC teams entering the weekend, fell to 6-6 on the season.

Southeast improved to 6-5.

"We're pleased with this weekend," Bieser said. "Central Arkansas has been a good program for a long time, and I thought our pitching staff really shined this weekend."

The Redhawks got three strong starting performances against the Bears, with senior left-hander Joey Lucchesi throwing seven shutout innings in a 6-0 win in Friday's home opener, and junior right-hander Clay Chandler striking out 14 batters in eight shutout innings in a 1-0 loss Saturday.

Beltran's outing was more of the same, and just further validation for Bieser, whose squad opens OVC play Friday at Eastern Kentucky.

"Since we've started way back in August, that's what we've seen is that those are our top three arms," Bieser said. "They've proved they can be starters in our program, and nobody's changed my mind on that yet. They're really throwing the ball well. I'm pleased with those three guys going into our weekend rotation."

The Redhawks outhit the Bears 13-8 on Sunday.

Mitchell had one of Southeast's three doubles, which all came in the second inning.

Senior shortstop Brandon Boggetto and senior designated hitter Garrett Gandolfo opened the frame with back-to-back doubles in the left-center field gap for a 1-0 lead. After Gandolfo moved to third on a groundout by senior first baseman Ryan Rippee, Mitchell sent a one-out drive off the wall in right-center field for a 2-0 advantage off Bears right-hander Hunter Neal (0-2), who was lifted after striking out the following batter.

"I got a good piece on that one," Mitchell said. " I was just trying to get something out over the plate that I could get up in the air and trying to get that guy in from third."

Junior center fielder Dan Holst and Boggetto started the third-inning rally with back-to-back, one-out singles through the left side off reliever Chris Durham. Holst took third on Gandolfo’s flyout to center field, then scored when Durham threw the next pitch into the dirt and past catcher Justin McCarty. Rippee and Mitchell drew walks before No. 8 hitter Hunter Leeper lined a single into right field. Boggetto scored on the play to make it 4-0, but Mitchell rounded second base too far, and Rippee, who initially was held at third base, was cut down at home as he tried to make lemonade out of Mitchell’s situation.

Southeast made it three consecutive scoring innings when it plated a run in the fourth with the use of some small ball. Junior right fielder Chris Osborne and junior left fielder Daniel Costello opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and sophomore second baseman Trevor Ezzel moved them into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Holst then scored Osborne with a sacrifice fly to left field for a 5-0 lead.

“We’ve got to score early, and once we start scoring early consistently, our pitchers can start settling in,” Bieser said. “But our offense has really been the difference in kind of a slow start. We just haven’t been consistent up and down the lineup, and I thought today we showed really good consistency and that we can play some small ball.”

The five runs looked like a mountain for Beltran, who had allowed just a pair of fourth-inning singles to that point.

“He had really had an outstanding outing, I would say, for the first time being on his home field,” Bieser said. “...He kind of ran out of gas there toward the end, but he was still making enough pitches to get through innings.”

McCarty accounted for the only run off Beltran when he blasted a one-out home run to left-center field in the top of the sixth. It came just right after Costello had made a leaping catch at the wall on the lead-off batter.

They were the exception for Beltran, who said his changeup was working well.

“I was able to keep it down and finish hitters with it,” Beltran said. “I was able to locate the fastball. I left a couple up and made mistakes, and that’s how they scored. But for the most part, I thought I kept the ball down.”

Mitchell got the run back with an RBI single in the seventh inning.

Sophomore right-hander Matthew Wade relieved Beltran after the leadoff single in the eighth inning. After a bouncer when off his glove for an infield single, Wade retired the next three batters to escape the jam.

Wade gave up a home run to Matt Anderson to open the ninth inning before hitting the next batter. Senior right-hander Brady Wright relieved and retired the next three batters to end the game.

Boggetto went 3 for 5 with three runs scored, while Holst had two hits for the Redhawks, who had hits off all five pitchers used by the Bears.

Southeast will play its next seven games on the road, beginning Tuesday when it visits Ole Miss of the Southeastern Conference in a 6:30 p.m. game. In all, the Redhawks will play 15 of their first 18 games away from Capaha Field.

"This is always an exciting place for our players to play, and they love being home, and our schedule isn't really set up for us to be home early, but it was nice to get here to play a weekend before we start our conference and get on the road," Bieser said. "We have a tough road stretch coming up, and after that it starts equaling out and we start getting back home a little bit more, which is really nice."