Southeast Missouri State baseball team's offense ignites in Saturday's rout

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team bounced back from Friday's loss to even its Ohio Valley Conference series against host Tennessee-Martin.

Southeast romped 13-1 on Saturday, one day after the Skyhawks squeezed out a 5-4 win on an eighth-inning home run.

"I was real proud of our club to bounce back the way we did," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "It was a tough loss last night."

The Redhawks (15-29, 6-11) are tied for eighth in the 10-team OVC and just one game out of the sixth and final OVC tournament berth. UTM (11-31, 5-12) is in last place.

Today's 1 p.m. rubber matchup will decide the series. Southeast is shooting for its second straight OVC series victory after dropping its first four conference sets.

The Redhawks have won seven of their last 12 games, while the Skyhawks have lost 15 of 18.

"It's a really important game," Hogan said about today's contest.

Two Southeast players continued their impressive streaks during the first two games of the series.

All-American senior third baseman Trenton Moses has reached base safely in a school-record 64 straight games. Neither the OVC nor NCAA keeps a record for that category.

Sophomore left fielder Derek Gibson has a 28-game hitting streak.

Moses and Gibson were just two of several Southeast players who recorded big offensive performances Saturday. The Redhawks banged out 15 hits, including four home runs and five doubles.

Gibson added two more hits Saturday, including a grand slam, after going 4 for 5 and tying a school record with three doubles Friday.

"He's done a really good job for us all year," Hogan said.

Moses, senior shortstop Kenton Parmley and senior first baseman Kody Campbell also homered for the Redhawks.

Moses also doubled and had three hits along with three RBIs. The homer was his 16th of the season.

Campbell also doubled. Parmley added two hits along with two RBIs.

Redshirt freshman right fielder Jason Blum doubled twice and had three hits.

Parmley's two-run homer highlighted a four-run first inning for Southeast.

Moses' RBI double in the second inning made it 5-0. Moses and Campbell belted solo homers in the third inning for a 7-1 advantage.

Gibson's grand slam broke things wide open at 12-1 in the fifth inning.

Junior college transfer left-hander Zack Smith notched the victory on the mound in his first OVC start.

Smith (2-5) went a career-high seven innings. He allowed one run and five hits. He struck out six and walked three.

"He did a great job, by far his best performance," Hogan said. "I know it helped to get the runs early."

Freshman Grant Davis struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning, and juco transfer Trevor Kill worked a hitless ninth.

Dylan Lynn, another juco transfer, will make his second straight OVC start for the Redhawks today. He fired a complete game during a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech in his most recent outing.

Friday

Gibson's three doubles matched the school record held by nine other players. The most recent to accomplish the feat was Brett Russell in 2010.

Gibson, who paced Southeast's nine-hit attack, had two RBIs.

Southeast grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by redshirt freshman Andy Lennington, who played for the first time since missing several weeks with mononucleosis.

UTM went ahead 4-1 with a four-run fourth inning that featured a two-RBI triple by Matt Young and two-RBI double by Jordan Owen.

Southeast got a run in the fifth inning and tied it in the sixth on Gibson's two-run double. All three of the runs were unearned.

Things remained 4-4 until the bottom of the eighth when freshman Jake Deason's first career homer broke the deadlock.

Junior Dan Tobik (3-2), among the OVC's premier relievers, closed out the victory with 3 1/3 perfect innings. He struck out six.

Sophomore left-hander Christian Hull (3-7) took the loss despite 3 2/3 strong innings. He allowed one run and two hits while striking out seven and walking two.

Southeast junior starter Shae Simmons gave up four runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked five.

"Shae did a good job, and Christian was great," Hogan said. "Tobik did an outstanding job for them."