WARREN WREAKS HAVOC ON BEARS

How do you spell hero?

For Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team on Wednesday, the spelling went like this:

P-H-I-L W-A-R-R-E-N.

Warren, a sophomore outfielder who had done little to distinguish himself during his still-brief Southeast career, took a major step toward changing that when the Indians played host to powerful Southwest Missouri State in a doubleheader at Capaha Field.

In the first game, Warren drilled a pinch-hit grand-slam home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift the Indians to an incredible 18-17 comeback victory.

Then in the nightcap, Warren hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie and the Indians went on to claim a 5-4 triumph.

Southeast improved to 14-10 overall while Southwest -- which is the two-time defending Missouri Valley Conference champion -- fell to 10-5.

"This is a great day for our program," said an understandably excited Southeast coach Mark Hogan after the long day of baseball that lasted about 5 1/2 hours. "To beat a team like Southwest Missouri twice is a tremendous accomplishment."

Warren entered Wednesday's action having never hit a collegiate home run and batting just .226 with only four runs driven in this season.

The Indians trailed 12-2 after 2 1/2 innings of the opener, but they were behind only 17-13 entering the bottom of the sixth.

Jeff Bourbon drilled a one-out solo homer to make it 17-14, then the next three batters reached to load the bases.

Hogan then called on Warren, who hammered the second pitch he saw off Southwest relief ace Shayne Ferrier well over the center-field fence near the 400-foot sign.

"Phil is a very good contact hitter and it was great to see him come through like that," said Hogan.

The coach, when told that he wound up looking like a genius for sending Warren to the plate in that spot, said with a laugh, "Good players make coaches look smart."

Said the soft-spoken Warren, "I wasn't thinking home run, I just wanted a base hit. I don't hit bomb shots, so I didn't know if it would go out or not."

Ryan Spille, one of the Indians' ace starting pitchers, hurled the top of the seventh to earn a save and preserve the victory. He benefited from a big play by reserve catcher Dan Berry, who picked a runner off second base after the first two Bears had reached in the top of the seventh.

"That was a huge play, one of the biggest of the game," Hogan said.

The first game contained a host of big plays as the teams used a total of eight pitchers and combined for 38 hits, 22 by Southwest.

Matt Cepicky ripped two homers for the Bears while Micah Holst and Nick Kays both had four hits.

Bourbon and Kyle Yount each had three hits for the Indians while Jeremy Johnson and Darin Kinsolving added two apiece.

Allen Landgren (1-0) got the win as he pitched the top of the sixth prior to Southeast's big rally in the bottom of the frame.

After such a slugfest in the opener, it figured that a pitching duel would spice the nightcap.

Southeast's Daniel Rodriguez -- who had pitched just one inning previously this season -- and Southwest's Brandon West -- a former Cape Girardeau Central High School and Cape Legion star -- hooked up in a dandy.

Rodriguez worked five innings and gave up only an unearned run and three hits before being replaced. Rodriguez struck out five and walked two.

West, who had hurled only 2 1/3 innings previously this year, matched Rodriguez and gave up only one run -- on Kinsolving's solo homer in the fourth that tied the contest 1-1 -- through five innings.

But West began to fade a bit in the sixth as Warren played the hero again.

After West fanned the first two batters -- the sixth consecutive outs he had recorded by way of the strikeout -- Yount singled and then Warren, who started the second game in right field, lofted a fly ball that drifted over the fence just inside the right-field foul pole.

"It was a slider, just like the first (home run)," said Warren. "I think the wind helped that one some."

Charlie Marino got a big two-run single later in the inning that made it 5-1, which would loom large when the Bears rallied for three in the seventh but could not push the tying run across.

West (0-1) would up being charged with all five runs, although he was superb for the first five innings. He allowed six hits and four walks while fanning seven.

Chad Bogenpohl (2-4) pitched the last two innings to get the win although Rodriguez was the real pitching star of the nightcap for the Indians.

"He looked great," Hogan said. "That's why playing these mid-week games are so important. You get a chance to see some of your guys that might not play much on the weekends."

Overall, the day couldn't have gone much better for the Indians, who now will start preparing for this weekend's big Ohio Valley Conference series at Eastern Illinois.

"To come back from 12-2 down against a team like Southwest says a lot for the character of this ballclub," said Hogan. "I couldn't be prouder of the guys for the way they played today."