Baseball sweeps Western Illinois in home opener

Southeast Missouri State’s baseball team won all three games against Western Illinois in the home opener of the newly-turfed Capaha Field from Friday, Feb. 24, through Sunday, Feb. 26.

Southeast currently has a 5-2 record after the weekend sweep in which the team outscored Western Illinois 32-7.

Southeast’s offense scored early and often in the opening game of the series, winning by a final score of 22-2 in front of a crowd of 844. The scoring started with a six-run second inning, and 21 total runs had crossed the plate by the end of the sixth inning. Southeast totaled nine extra-base hits in the contest and had six players with a multi-hit game.

Senior catcher Kylar Robertson had four hits and two runs batted in. Junior infielder Trevor Ezell and senior outfielder Dan Holst each had a pair of hits and had four and three RBIs, respectively. Freshman infielder Connor Basler added four hits while driving in four runs.

“He’s growing up,” coach Andy Sawyers said about Basler. “He’s starting to talk, he’s starting to lead a little bit more and communicate on the field … Coach Ringe kind of tweaked his stride in the week from last weekend. He was getting the foot down and just kind of waiting on the ball. … Albert Pujols can be that simple because he weighs 250 pounds. Basler weighs about 150. So he needs to have a little more going. … I appreciate the fact that he was able to make the adjustment and do it on the fly.”

Senior pitcher Clay Chandler picked up his second win of the season after spreading out eight hits over six innings and allowing just two runs. Southeast’s bullpen gave up just one hit over the final three innings of the game while striking out six batters.

On Saturday, the team came from behind to get the 5-4 win. Western Illinois scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but would not score the fourth run until the seventh inning. Southeast pulled within one run in the sixth and seventh inning before junior infielder Tristen Gagan hit a go-ahead two-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Senior pitcher Robert Beltran was left with a no-decision after pitching five and one-third innings. Junior pitcher Carlos Vega got the win after going two and two-thirds innings in relief and junior pitcher Matthew Wade recorded his third save of the season.

Southeast finished the series sweep on Sunday, Feb. 26, by a score of 5-1. The majority of the team’s offense on Sunday came from home runs. Gagan and Ezell both hit solo home runs and Holst added a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Senior pitcher Justin Murphy notched the win after going seven innings while allowing just three hits and one earned run with zero walks. Vega pitched the final two innings of the game to record the save.

For the season, the pitching staff currently has a 2.66 ERA. Southeast has three seniors as starters during three-game series weekends, which has been rare for the program in the past.

“I feel comfortable when we roll those guys out,” Sawyers said about his veteran pitching staff. “So far every start has been a quality start. … I’m not having to make moves in the fourth and fifth [innings]. … They say a manager is only as good as his bullpen and [the starters] are letting me use the bullpen in the way I want to use it, so I’m grateful to those guys for that.”

Southeast’s next series will begin on Friday, March 3, at Capaha Field as the Redhawks host Purdue. The first pitch will be at 6 p.m.