Southeast Missouri State baseball team drops series opener to Stephen F. Austin

As the regular season winds down, the Ohio Valley Conference-leading Southeast Missouri State baseball team finds itself in a slump.

If there’s anything good to gleam of the Redhawks’ 3-2 loss on Friday afternoon it’s that they were playing non-conference opponent Stephen F. Austin.

Southeast, which struggled in the field and at the plate in the series opener, dropped to 32-16 while the Lumberjacks’ record improved to 27-22.

Southeast Missouri State's Brandon Boggetto doubles against Stephen F. Austin batter during the first inning Friday, May 13, 2016 at Capaha Field. FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com

“It’s just frustrating. Not that we lost the ballgame; it’s just frustrating on how we’re losing games and how we’re playing right now,” Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. “There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of continuity from inning to inning. I don’t know if it’s just a focus issue right now [or what]. This is always a tough transition when you get out of school and finals; it’s always a tough transition period and we seem to have a little issue always around this time of the year.”

The Redhawks have lost five of their last seven contests, three of which have been by one run.

“Obviously it hurts. It’s not what we’re used to,” Southeast catcher Brian Lees said. “We’re used to coming out and dominating. It’s just coming into each and every game with the mindset that we’re going to beat the other team and that we’re going to put our best effort forward.”

Stephen F. Austin plated the game-winner in the top of the ninth. Reliever Jake Busiek issued back to back one-out walks before a wild pitch allowed the runners to move into scoring position. A wild pitch with two outs scored the go-ahead run.

“I think a couple of those breaking balls he guided in there and didn’t just throw them with some conviction,” Bieser said of Busiek, who dropped to 1-3 with the loss. “I think that’s what you’re seeing our team do. We’re not trusting what we see; we’re not trusting our preparation and we’re kind of getting out of it. That’s something we talked about — we’ve got to regroup and be more consistent from a day-to-day basis, but the most important thing is we’re doing the right things and we’re playing the game the right way.”

After recording five hits in the first two innings, the Redhawks had just one single in the third and another in the top of the eighth. They had a base runner in the fourth and the ninth via walks, but nothing else. Southeast batters struck out 10 times, six looking.

Southeast scored in the first inning for the seventh consecutive game. Trevor Ezell reached on an error by the shortstop to start the home half and Branden Boggetto followed with a one-out double. Garrett Gandolfo drove in both when he ripped an 0-2 pitch up the middle.

The Redhawks maintained their 2-0 lead until the fifth inning. Conner Fikes, who went 3-for-4 for the Lumberjacks, hit a leadoff double to center and scored on a single by Zac Michener.

The Redhawks got the first out of the inning when Michener overran second and got caught in a rundown after a base hit. Tyler Kendrick hit a two-out double to right center but Clark Kahawaii, who reached on a fielder’s choice, was thrown out easily at home by Ezell, as Southeast escaped with a 2-1 lead.

Fikes tripled to right-center with one out in the top of the seventh and Michener drew a walk. Lucchesi struck out the next batter before pitching coach Lance Rhodes made a visit to the mound.

Lucchesi had two strikes on pinch hitter Tyler Pinkston when Fikes raced home, scoring to tie it 2-2.

“They do an early break at first where we’ve got to immediately step off and check the runner at third, and we got caught on it,” Bieser said. “We just talked about it and we didn’t execute exactly what we’re supposed to do.”

Lees said the scouting report noted that SFA does some “pretty crazy plays” with runners on the corners, so they were aware of what the Lumberjacks might try.

“I thought I had my foot in there but he must’ve gotten the plate and the umpire saw it different,” Lees said.

Lucchesi was able to get his eighth strikeout to strand Michener, who stole second on the play.

Lucchesi allowed two earned runs on seven hits with two walks in seven innings. He moved into second on Southeast’s single-season Top 10 list with 123 strikeouts. Ryan Spille’s 130 strikeouts from 1998 holds the top spot. Lucchesi also is in second on the career strikeouts list with 216 in his two seasons as a Redhawk. Southeast Hall of Famer Trae Hastings recorded 239 from 1975-78.

“I didn’t think his breaking stuff was very good today,” Bieser said. “… This time of year it’s tough to be just a fastball pitcher because hitters have their timing. He’s fortunate that he has a good fastball and he’s able to keep things at bay, and that’s what he was able to do today.”

Boggetto was the only Redhawk with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Ezell’s hitting streak is at 18 after a single in the second.

“I thought we came out really locked in,” Bieser said. “I thought our guys looked really good. They were taking a really good approach in their at-bats and swinging the bat really well, and then for some reason we just got out of that groove.”

Reliever Austin Hearn (1-0) got the win for SFA after pitching 2/3 of a scoreless inning. Tyler Starks picked up his fifth save after striking out two in the ninth.

Starter Patrick Ledet allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts in six innings.

Game 2 of the series is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

“We’ve got to answer the bell and come back and play a much better game,” Bieser said. “Win or lose, we have to play the game the right way and not have so many mistakes, especially just little things that we’re doing that shouldn’t happen this time of the year.”