Southeast baseball shows promise in season-opening sweep loss at Dallas Baptist

Southeast Missouri State's Chance Resetich bats against Lindenwood on Friday, April 28, 2023, at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

There are few times in which a team can look the part while losing, but Southeast Missouri State baseball may have accomplished that feat over the weekend.

Traveling to Dallas to face off against the Dallas Baptist Patriots, one of the country’s top mid-major teams, the Redhawks took a trio of tight losses in which they competed every time.

Losing 9-5, 8-6 and ending the series on a 6-5 loss in 11 innings, Southeast may have ended the weekend without a win but not without plenty of reason to be excited.

After finishing the 2023 season ranked No. 16 in NCAA’s RPI, Dallas Baptist kicked off the season with three big wins at home against the Redhawks.

For Southeast, that competition against a seasoned foe bodes well for the long season ahead in the Ohio Valley Conference and, potentially, another NCAA Tournament berth.

Junior outfielder Michael Mugan finished the weekend with two home runs and a team-leading five RBIs in the series loss, finishing with a batting average of .429.

Transferring in from Monterey Peninsula College, a community college in California, Mugan batted .400 with the Lobos his sophomore year.

He’s begun his first season with SEMO much the same, proving an electric bat in the heart of the order.

But that .429 didn’t even lead the team. Chance Resetich finished the series against the Pats with an impressive .500 average through three games, hitting three doubles for six hits.

Against one of the nation’s top non-powers, the Redhawk offense looked dominant and, if not for a strong Patriot offense itself, may have taken a game or two against a phenomenal opponent.

Junior Bryce Cannon joined the two in the .300-plus club, hitting .333 against the Pats to help propel the Redhawk offense to an emphatic weekend at the dish.

Where Southeast faltered, it appeared, was the back side of the ball. The Redhawks allowed nearly eight runs per game in the series.

The pitching staff struggled against its Conference-USA counterpart over the weekend, with few players seeing any significant time on the mound without being assaulted by a ferocious Dallas Baptist offense.

Moving forward, that staff will have to make a big step up if the Redhawks want to find themselves winning games in blowouts, not shootouts.

While Southeast clearly has the potential to become an elite mid-major threat later this season, there’s some soul-searching to be done defensively.

The next opportunity comes in rivalry fashion for the Redhawks, when they’ll take on the Missouri Valley Conference’s Murray State Racers (2-0) in their home opener.

They’ll take the field at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Capaha Field for a big tilt against a familiar foe, with the chance to grab their first win of the season.