Southeast Missouri State baseball team's season ends with loss in OVC tourney

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State began and ended the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament with a loss to Jacksonville State.

The combination bounced the Redhawks from the six-team, double-elimination event.

The third-seeded Gamecocks ended Southeast's season Saturday with a 15-12 victory in a wild losers bracket final that lasted 3 hours, 33 minutes.

The squads combined for 37 hits, including four home runs and nine doubles.

"Two fantastic offenses," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said.

JSU put the second-seeded Redhawks in a major hole with an 8-2 victory Thursday in the winners bracket semifinals after Southeast received a first-round bye.

Southeast (34-22) bounced back to stave off elimination with two wins Friday but could not make it past JSU in the rematch despite building an early 4-0 lead and rallying late from a 14-5 deficit.

"It's tough. We dug ourselves a hole," junior third baseman Trenton Moses said about losing the first tournament game to JSU. "But we really thought we had a good shot to win."

Hogan knew things would be extremely difficult for his squad once it fell into the losers bracket right off the bat.

That meant the Redhawks needed to win five straight games to claim the tournament title and automatic NCAA regional berth. Not many college teams have pitching staffs deep enough to pull off that titanic feat.

"You don't ever want to be in that situation," Hogan said.

Things began well enough for the Redhawks on Saturday when they scored four runs in the top of the first inning.

Senior DH Brett Russell had the key blow, a two-run single. Senior catcher Ky Burgess added an RBI double.

Senior Nick Thomas breezed through the first two innings before JSU scored four third-inning runs.

Sam Eberle's two-run double got the Gamecocks on the board, and Ben Waldrip followed with a two-run homer.

That was the start of a monster game by Waldrip, whose three-run homer highlighted a five-run fifth inning that put JSU ahead for good.

"You have to give Jacksonville State credit. It was a hard-fought win for them," Hogan said.

Four of the fifth-inning runs were charged to sophomore Shae Simmons (0-5), who took the loss while recording just one out.

JSU, up 9-5 after Southeast scored in the fifth inning, opened a 14-5 lead with a five-run sixth sparked by Waldrip's two-run single.

The Redhawks managed to make things interesting.

"We just kept fighting, battling," junior shortstop Kenton Parmley said. "We know we have a good enough offense to come back."

Southeast closed within 14-10, scoring twice in the sixth inning and three times in the seventh that included senior second baseman Tim Rupp's second home run of the tournament and fourth of the season, a two-run shot.

"We gave up some runs, but we didn't quit," Rupp said. "Our offense kept plugging."

Down 15-10, Southeast got a two-run eighth-inning single by Parmley and brought the tying run to the plate before the rally died. The Redhawks also had the tying run up in the ninth inning before the contest ended on a double play.

"I wasn't surprised because of the nature of the guys, having 18 seniors," Hogan said about the comeback. "They just played their hearts out.

"I was really proud of the club for putting the tying runs up in the eighth and ninth innings. The game wasn't over until the last pitch."

Waldrip went 3 for 4 with the two homers and seven RBIs. Kyle Bluestein also homered and went 5 for 5 to lead JSU's 19-hit attack.

Southeast had 18 hits, paced by Parmley's 4 for 6 performance. Rupp had three hits while Russell, Burgess and senior first baseman Casey Jones all added two hits. Parmley and Russell both recorded three RBIs.

The battle of non-weekend starters saw Thomas give Southeast 3 2/3 innings and left-hander Daniel Watts go 5 1/3 innings for JSU.

Watts (1-5), the winner, rebounded after his rocky start to allow just three more runs after the opening frame. He gave up five earned runs.

The Redhawks used five pitchers. Even ace reliever Logan Mahon suffered rare damage. The senior left-hander allowed four runs over the final four innings.

Southeast posted its best showing in the tournament since 2008 by going 2-2 for third place. The Redhawks went 3-2 and reached the championship round that year.

"A 2-2 tournament and third-place finish is nothing to be ashamed about," Hogan said.

The Redhawks, second in the OVC's regular season, ended the year tied for the third-most wins in program history and the most since the 2002 club went 37-20.

"Just a great year from the beginning to the end," said Hogan, who led the Redhawks to their league-record 17th straight OVC tournament appearance -- every season Hogan has coached his alma mater. "There are some ups and downs in a 50-game-plus season. I don't think we deserve anything but praise."