Southeast Missouri State baseball team weathers rocky finish to reach winner's bracket final in OVC tourney

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser chuckled and acknowledged that his team's Ohio Valley Conference tournament game against No. 6 Eastern Illinois got a little uncomfortable late Thursday night.

But as they've done for much of their championship season, the Redhawks found a way to win -- with a little help from the Panthers.

Top-seeded Southeast emerged with an 8-6 victory to advance to today's 7 p.m. winner's bracket final against No. 2 Tennessee Tech.

"I think that's the mindset of this team is when their backs get against the wall, they found a way all season long to kind of stop the bleeding and just to really get really gritty in those situations and have that confidence that they're going to come out on top," Bieser said. "And that's what's so important -- that they go out and expect to win, and when it starts getting closer now you've got guys expecting to make a play so that we can win."

No two plays were bigger than the final two outs of the ninth.

The Panthers already had scored three times in the inning to cut Southeast's lead to two when Redhawks' pitcher Brady Wright picked off Mitch Gasbarro at first for the second out.

Then EIU third baseman Brant Valach singled and was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into double by left fielder Clayton Evans to end the game.

"Those are two huge plays," Bieser said, "and that's just finding a way to win, and that's what this club has been good at."

The win improved Southeast's record to 37-18, which ties the school record for most wins in a season.

"We've been doing it all year," Southeast starting pitcher Alex Winkelman said. "There's been a lot of games like that where we just kind of pulled it out. In the tournament it doesn't matter if it's 8-6 or if it's 20-6. It really doesn't matter as long as you get to the next day and stay in the winner's bracket. It's a good thing for our team that we can pull out those close ones."

Southeast never trailed in the game and held a comfortable 8-3 lead after eight innings before the Panthers attempted a comeback.

Alex Siddle relieved starter Alex Winkelman to start the ninth inning and issued walks to the first two batters before giving up an RBI double.

Wright then came in to pitch with runners on second and third with no outs. A hit to shallow right field scored one run and a sac fly made it 8-6 before Wright's pick-off and Evans' throw to second.

"We wanted to bring Alex Siddle in because he's been doing a pretty good job all year, and the biggest thing in a situation like that is you just can't walk guys," Bieser said. "He just had a tough time finding the strike zone and was having a tough time making adjustments.

"Alex [Winkelman] had probably way too many pitches to finish that inning, and that's the last thing I wanted to do was put him back out there and have some of his runners on base. He threw so well, and you'd hate to see him put a couple runners on base and we go to the bullpen and they give up some of his guys, and it's a frustrating outing after that. He needed to come out after the eighth because of his pitch count. He wanted the ball bad, and honestly I wanted to give it to him bad because I knew that he could probably get through it, but we're really pushing a young arm like that and I didn't want to do that with him."

Winkleman (6-2) pitched eight innings for the Redhawks. He allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits. He walked a pair and struck out four.

"You know, I was kind of off and on with my offspeed pitches," Winkelman said. "Sometimes I had my changeup, and then most of the balls they were hitting around the yard were changeups that I left up. I was kind of hit or miss for the most part. I was really just trying to stay down in the zone and get soft contact and let my defense do it. I wanted to get ahead early and make them try to put it in play so I could last as long as I could. I would've liked to go one more obviously, but it didn't work out and we have a good bullpen for that."

Southeast Missouri State’s Matt Tellor, the OVC Player of the Year, bats against Eastern Illinois during Thursday’s OVC tournament game in Jackson, Tenn. Southeast won 8-6. (WAYNE MCPHERSON ~ Special to Southeast Missourian)

Wright picked up his sixth save of the season.

The Redhawks got on the board first on an RBI groundout by designated hitter Derek Gibson in the first inning.

EIU tied it up in the third after Mitch Gasbarro drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on an error by second baseman Jason Blum.

Southeast regained the lead in the fourth on an RBI single from Scott Mitchell to make it 2-1.

The Redhawks broke the game open and chased starter Joe Greenfield from the game with one out in the sixth.

Greenfield had picked up a win against the Redhawks during the regular season, and Bieser had expected that runs would be at a premium against him.

"We were getting to him," Bieser said. "We were putting some good at-bats together, and I think he probably came out of the game at the right time. I thought our guys were starting to get locked in on him.

"He was tough on us and he made it difficult for our hitters, especially when it came down to when he had to make a pitch. He was very good at making those pitches, and really kind of limiting any big damage that we could do. We just couldn't could a big inning against him."

Greenfield walked right fielder Dalton Hewitt and gave up a base hit to Evans with one out in the sixth before Ben Kennedy relieved him.

Mitchell sent the first pitch he saw from Kennedy in to center to score a run and shortstop Andy Lack hit an RBI double to right. An RBI groundout from Blum made it 5-1.

A single, a walk and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. Evans and Mitchell hit back-to-back RBI singles to extend the Redhawks a lead to 7-1.

"Really not trying to do more than I had to at the plate," Mitchell said. "When I do that I tend to struggle a little bit. ... That's just kind of where I was at today, just not trying to do any more than I had to and being comfortable knowing that there are guys behind me that can pick me up if I don't get it done."

EIU scored twice in the eighth to narrow the gap. Left fielder Demetre Taylor hit a one-out double and scored on a single from Cameron Berra. A sac fly scored Valach to make it 7-3.

Southeast added an insurance run in its half of the inning when OVC Player of the Year Matt Tellor singled and scored on a Derek Gibson triple before the Panthers' three-run ninth.

Greenfield (6-6) took the loss. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Center fielder Cole Bieser went 3 for 5. Evans and Mitchell each went 3 for 4. Mitchell drove in three runs and scored once while Evans had an RBI and scored twice.

The Redhawks (37-18) will face No. 2 Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. today. The winner of that game will advance to the tournament championship and will have two chances to defeat the loser's bracket winner and claim the tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

OVC Co-Pitcher of the Year Travis Hayes (8-1) will start for Southeast. Hayes pitched four scoreless innings of relief and recorded a win in Southeast's 9-8, 12-inning victory against Tech on May 10, a day after the Redhawks sealed the conference's regular-season championship by defeating the Golden Eagles.

"I think everybody understands that this is the game that I think a lot of people want to see," Bieser said. "I mean, you've got two high-powered offenses. We do it a little bit different than they do it. They live by the long ball, and we try to piece things together and come up with big hits.

"I think it's going to be a very interesting game. I know that they're going to score runs. What we've got to be able to do is match them run-for-run and just hope that our pitching is just a little bit better than theirs. It's going to be an interesting game. I know both team's are going to be up to it. Neither team's scared of the other team, and it's just going to be one of those games where there's going to be a lot of emotion in the game. It's going to go back and forth, and I think the team that can keep their heads the most level and play a complete nine innings is the team that's going to come out on top."