SEMO baseball drops road series to Tennessee Tech

SEMO’s Josh Cameron rounds third base during a recent game at Capaha Field.

Clay Herrell ~ cherrell@semoball.com

The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks baseball team hit the road for a three-game set against Tennessee Tech, a battle of two of the top teams in the OVC.

Ultimately, a 4-3 loss on Sunday saw the Redhawks drop the series after the two clubs split the opening two games of the series.

Game 1: SEMO 4, TTU 1

SEMO handed the ball to Haden Dow for the series opener and the senior left hander delivered in a big way for the Redhawks.

Dow tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits while striking out four batters in the process.

The Redhawks gave Dow a lead early as Ty Stauss singled home Brooks Kettering to put the Redhawks ahead 1-0.

That run would be the only offense in the game until the bottom of the ninth.

After Dow tossed seven scoreless, SEMO turned the ball over to Kyle Miller who was on the mound in the bottom of the ninth when TTU’s Nicho Jordan launched a solo home run to tie the game in the late stages.

With a brand new game, the two teams went to the top of the 10th where the inning started with Michael Mugan reaching on a throwing error.

Following the error, Stauss struck out and Caleb Corbin walked, setting the stage for Josh Cameron.

The error and walk came back to burn the Golden Eagles as Cameron drilled a go-ahead three-run home run to right field to give the Redhawks a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the tenth, Miller struck out the side in order to earn the win in the Redhawks’ 4-1 victory.

Cameron finished game one 2-for-5 with 3 RBI.

Game 2: TTU 10, SEMO 2

Game two wasn’t as kind to the Redhawks as they found themselves playing from behind from the onset.

After being set down in order in the top half of the first, the Golden Eagles quickly made two outs in the bottom of the first before Redhawks starter Sam Heyman worked into a bases loaded jam.

TTU’s Theo Bryant IV made Heyman and the Redhawks pay for the two-out mistakes as he deposited a grand slam over the left field wall to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead.

The offense for TTU didn’t stop there as they drove in a pair of runs in the second inning to push the lead to 6-0.

Heyman lasted just two innings for the Redhawks, allowing six runs on seven hits.

Taking over for Heyman was Gavin Johnston who cruised through his first two innings before running into trouble in the fifth.

The Golden Eagles tacked on four more runs between the fifth and sixth innings to take a commanding 10-0 lead.

It was the top of the seventh before the Redhawks offense scratched a run across as Bryce Cannon double home Josh Cameron to make it 10-1.

In the following inning, SEMO would push across one more run as an error by TTU made it 10-2.

Both Caleb Corbin and Josh Cameron tallied two hits in the 10-2 loss in game two.

Game 3: TTU 4, SEMO 3

The rubber match of the series pitted SEMO’s Brian Strange and TTU’s Jaxson Pease against each other as the starting pitcher in the finale.

The scoring started in the top of the third when SEMO’s Keoni Coloma grounded out, scoring Bryce Cannon to make it 1-0.

The lead was short lived however as the Golden Eagles evened the score courtesy of a solo home run in the bottom of the third.

The game remained tied at one until the bottom of the seventh when a fielders choice allowed a TTU run to score and make it 2-1.

Like when SEMO took a lead in the third, the Redhawks quickly answered the run by scoring a run of their own in the top of the eighth when Bryce Cannon hit a solo home run to make it 2-2.

Tennessee Tech broke the tie and added an insurance run via a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to take a 4-2 lead.

Credit to the Redhawks though, as despite trailing, they managed to bring the go-ahead run to the plate following a single from Ty Stauss that made it 4-3.

The game ended when Caleb Corbin was punched out looking as the Redhawks fell 4-3 and dropped the three-game series.

SEMO (20-20, 9-6 OVC) returns to action at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, when the Redhawks host the Southern Illinois Salukis as they honor the St. Louis Browns.