Southeast Missouri State baseball team's offense stumbles in loss to Austin Peay

After scoring at least 10 runs per game and a combined 42 runs in its previous three games, the Southeast Missouri State baseball team's offense faltered in the first game of a three-game series against Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay.

Southeast, the seventh highest scoring team in the nation, out hit the Governors, but couldn't find ways to score in a 5-1 loss on Friday night at Capaha Field.

The Redhawks (17-12, 9-4 OVC) lost their second straight game and fell into a third-place tie with Austin Peay (16-10, 9-4 OVC) in the OVC.

"Our offense was nonexistent. I thought they were scuffling back and forth, playing a little tight possibly," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "You can't really put your finger on why we came out flat, but I thought we came out with not a lot of energy."

Mistakes came often for the Southeast, which never led in the game, and gave the Governors a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Southeast Missouri State starter Joey Lucchesi pitches to an Austin Peay batter during the first inning Friday, April 3, 2015 at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

After surrendering a leadoff single on the second pitch of the game, starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi recorded the next two outs and appeared to be working his way out of the inning.

Instead, the right-hander walked the next batter he faced, and watched the Governors execute a double steal to put runners on second third. Lucchesi threw a wild pitch during the next at bat, allowing the runner from third to score.

Lucchesi did work his way out of trouble in the second after hitting a batter and giving up a single but didn't get so lucky in the third.

Cayce Bredlau reached on a rare error by second baseman Jason Blum to start the third. One batter later, Logan Gray launched a two-run home run to center field to increase the Governors lead to 3-0.

"On Friday nights you can't do those things because you're facing somebody else's No. 1 pitcher," Bieser said. "You've got to play a clean game, and we played a very sloppy game from a defensive standpoint and from a pitching standpoint. Wild pitches and crossing up our [catcher], doing things like that are not acceptable and we've got to straighten those things out."

Southeast had a chance to cut into Austin Peay's lead in the fourth when Garrett Gandolfo drew a leadoff walk that was followed by a single from Ryan Rippee. However, Austin Peay starting pitcher Alex Robles struck out Dalton Hewitt before getting Scott Mitchell and Branden Boggetto to fly out to left field to end the inning.

"It was just a good pitcher who was on tonight," Blum said. "We just didn't execute whenever it mattered. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. You don't like doing it, but that's just part of it."

Austin Peay added three runs, all of which came with two outs, in the fifth and brought eight batters to the plate.

Southeast Missouri State shortstop Branden Boggetto tags out Austin Peay's Josh Wilson on a steal attempt during the fourth inning Friday, April 3, 2015 at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

Lucchessi struck out the first two batters he faced in the inning before he walked Massoni on four pitches.

Massoni advanced to second on a passed ball during the next at bat before scoring on Ridge Smith's double down the right field line. Lucchesi threw another wild pitch during the next at bat, allowing Smith to advance to third. After walking Garrett Copeland the following at bat, the Governors used a double steal again to take a 5-0 lead. Copeland took off for second, prompting a throw from catcher Clayton Evans. Blum cut off the throw in the infield grass in front of second base and appeared to be throwing home. However, the senior hesitated to make the throw and looked back towards second base instead, allowing Smith to score safely while Copeland took second.

Southeast Missouri State's Branden Boggetto singles against Austin Peay during the third inning Friday, April 3, 2015 at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

"You've got a lefty on lefty matchup that is a good matchup for us and we hit their batter," Bieser said of the fifth. "That's where it all started and fell a part. So a lot of those things fall back on just really understanding where you're at in the lineup and preparation. It's got to be a little on our players to know where they're at in the lineup, what they need to do. You roll the bottom of that order back around to the top and you're putting yourself in trouble."

Southeast scored a run on three consecutive hits including an RBI single from Blum in the eighth. The Redhawks had a chance to score more runs with two runners on and no outs in the inning, but were retired in order, ending their last good chance at a comeback. Southeast stranded seven runners in the loss.

"That's just a compliment to their pitching really locking down," Blum said. "You could almost tell that they would start to get a little better whenever we started threatening with some base runners. Us as a hitting staff, we weren't really locking anything down. It showed tonight, and it's something we'll have to fix for tomorrow."