Southeast Missouri State baseball team's offense backs up Simmons' outing

Shae Simmons suffered from a serious lack of run support over the first month of the season.

That trend has been reversed in recent weeks, which has helped Southeast Missouri State's junior ace put together an impressive winning streak.

Simmons captured his sixth straight decision Friday when the Redhawks routed visiting SIU Edwardsville 11-4 in their next-to-last regular-season game.

"Any time Shae's on the mound, we have confidence we can win, and now we've been scoring a lot of runs for him," All-American senior third baseman Trenton Moses said. "We hope to score a lot of runs no matter who's on the mound."

Simmons, a Scott City High School graduate, started the year by losing his first four decisions even though he largely pitched well in those contests.

Southeast Missouri State's Cole Bieser rounds third and heads for home on a single by Jason Blum during the fifth inning Friday.

But Simmons (6-4) has won his last six decisions, all in Ohio Valley Conference play, and he is tied for the league lead in victories during OVC games.

Southeast has scored 53 runs in Simmons' six wins, and the Redhawks' lowest output during that stretch is five runs. That's a stark contrast to some of Simmons' early starts when Southeast was fortunate to score three runs.

"He deserves it. He's been the bell cow for us, pitching well even when we weren't as a group," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "His record would be so much better if we had gotten him some run support early, but the thing I admire about Shae is he's never complained about it. He's just gone out and done his job."

Simmons allowed seven hits and four runs Friday. The OVC leader in strikeouts fanned six and walked two.

"I guess I threw all right," Simmons said. "I'm just trying to do my job. With a lead like that, I'm just trying to let them hit the ball."

The Redhawks continued their recent offensive surge and all-around strong play by belting three home runs among their 11 hits. They played errorless ball for the seventh time in their last eight games.

"We're getting contributions from up and down the lineup," senior first baseman Kody Campbell said. "We're playing good defense and we're pitching well. It's all coming together for us."

One of Southeast's homers came from an unexpected source. Southeast players and coaches left Capaha Field after Thursday's 9-4 win over SIUE in the series opener planning on not having standout senior shortstop Kenton Parmley available for Friday's contest.

Parmley was ejected during the seventh inning Thursday, and OVC regulations have stipulated an automatic one-game suspension following an ejection.

But that rule was changed two years ago, something the Redhawks weren't aware of Thursday.

So Parmley was in Friday's lineup, and his homer leading off the fourth inning came immediately after SIUE had sliced a 4-0 deficit to 4-2. It was the 11th home run of the season for Parmley, who also homered Thursday.

"About 11 this morning [three hours before the first pitch]," Parmley said about when he found out he could play Friday. "I was kind of shocked. ... It's great to come back and hit a home run like that."

Also homering were Moses and Campbell.

Moses was walked twice -- once intentionally -- and hit by a pitch in his first three plate appearances.

Moses finally got a chance to take the bat off his shoulders in the fifth inning and bombed a three-run shot well over the 400-foot sign in center field. It was the Advance High School graduate's 19th home run of the season and put Southeast up 11-4.

"I got it pretty good," Moses said with a smile. "You've got to stay patient, take what they give you."

Moses extended his hitting streak to 22 games and his school-record streak of reaching base safely to 74 contests. Neither the OVC nor NCAA keeps a record for that category.

Campbell's eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, came immediately after Moses was hit by a pitch. It was part of a three-run frame that included Parmley's solo blast and made it 7-2.

"I left some guys on early. I was a little upset," said Campbell, an Oran High School graduate who flew out to left field in his first two plate appearances following walks to Moses. "It was nice to get that one."

Parmley, Campbell and redshirt freshman outfielder Jason Blum all had two hits. Blum matched Parmley and Campbell with two RBIs, one behind Moses' three.

"We got contributions from one through nine in the lineup and a lot of two-out runs [eight]," Hogan said. "We played well defensively and we pitched well."

Southeast's bullpen fired shutout ball for the second straight game in the series.

Junior college transfer Tony Zerrusen allowed one hit over two innings, and true freshman Grant Davis gave up one hit in the ninth inning.