SEMO baseball endures its way to OVC title game

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Andy Sawyers speaks with his team during a pitching change against Tennessee Tech during the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky.

Ohio Valley Conference

There is certainly not going to be anything easy for the Southeast Missouri State baseball club to achieve today, as it battles Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion, Belmont, for the OVC Tournament championship (12 p.m., ESPN+).

However, the day overall has to be easier to navigate than Friday was.

The Redhawks – on little rest – got a pair of come-from-behind wins over SIU Edwardsville and Tennessee Tech to advance to today’s title game at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky.

“Last night,” veteran Redhawk coach Andy Sawyers said of Thursday evening (really Friday morning), “I didn’t know if we were going to have a chance to play for the championship. We had lost such a tough, competitive, and close game (to Tennessee Tech).

“It was emotional.”

The Redhawks (36-20) opened the tournament on Thursday under miserable circumstances in an 11-10 loss to the Golden Eagles.

SEMO starter Jason Rackers worked one inning before a 5-plus hour rain delay ensued.

When play resumed, SEMO went with Tommy Windt on the mound, who got injured after one inning.

Sawyers eventually used six pitchers in the game, which didn’t end until 1 a.m. Friday, while his team had to play SIU Edwardsville in an elimination game 10 hours later.

“I did not sleep much at all,” Sawyers said of Thursday night.

Somehow, the Redhawks, though exhausted, worked through 18 innings of competitive baseball, both of which, didn’t go their way early.

Against the Cougars, SEMO trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning before exploding for eight runs and never trailing again in the 14-6 win.

“We had to win 18 innings today,” Sawyers said, “but you have to do it one inning at a time.”

In the opening Friday win, SEMO used four different pitchers than the six on Thursday, so its depth was being tested to the tilt.

As all of the OVC teams were getting fatigued due to the amount of baseball being played, the offenses began to slow, which helped SEMO in Friday night’s win over Tennessee Tech in another elimination game.

The Redhawks were able to use just three pitchers, as starter Colin Wilma and closer Austin Williams each worked 3 1/3 innings and middle reliever Blake Cisneros went 2 1/3 in a 5-2 win.

The game was tied at two in the eighth inning when junior Andrew Keck lofted a pitch over the right-center field wall for a three-run home run.

“I’m super proud of Andrew,” Sawyers said. “He hasn’t had a great last three weeks, but he was probably our MVP through the first half of the year.”

Rackers did not attend Friday’s game, as he was ill. His availability today is unknown at this time.

Jevon Mason and Lincoln Andrew each had three hits against Tennesse Tech, while Peyton Leeper had two.

Tyler Wilber had three hits against SIU Edwardsville, while Andrews added two.

The Redhawks are the defending OVC Tournament champions and beat Belmont in two of the three games played this season.

The winner of today’s game receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“We were behind in both games (today),” Sawyers said, “but the boys showed great resiliency, came back, and finished both of those off.

“I’m really proud of them. If you think about what we’ve had to do, we have played three baseball games and got two innings from our first two starters. The fact that we have survived that to get to the championship game, I think speaks a lot to the toughness and competitiveness of our group.”