Still waiting: Southeast Missouri State baseball team's season ends short of tournament title

JACKSON, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State baseball team was waiting for its perfect moment to celebrate on the field.

According to the Redhawks, the timing wasn't right when they clinched the regular-season Ohio Valley Conference championship outright with a Morehead State loss last Friday and when they won their regular-season finale the next day they already had their sights set on what was next: the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title.

The celebration never came for Southeast and instead what occurred Saturday night at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee, was an unpleasant end to their second consecutive championship season.

The Redhawks' 16-3 loss in the championship round of the OVC tournament to No. 2 MSU was not the moment third-year coach Steve Bieser had expected, and he was at a loss for words when he huddled with his team near its dugout while the Eagles celebrated their tournament title and automatic bid to an NCAA regional with a dogpile on the field and a Gatorade shower for coach Mike McGuire.

"I haven't had a chance to really look back and look at this season and see how successful, or maybe even unsuccessful, that I think we are because we're always trying to look in the moment and take care of business on that day," Bieser said. "That's one of the reasons my postgame to the guys -- I wasn't prepared because I really wasn't expecting not to come back tomorrow. I really believed in this group and thought we were coming back tomorrow to play and it just didn't happen."

The top-seeded Redhawks had won three other elimination games on Friday and Saturday after losing their first game of the double-elimination tournament. A win against MSU would've forced a winner-take-all championship game on Sunday.

"I want to get back, I want to collect my thoughts and really tell them how I feel and what they mean to me and what they mean to our program," Bieser said. "We've got some fifth-year seniors here that have basically been with me my entire time here and they've basically built what we've got going. I truly believe we did the toughest thing to win the conference and 30 games."

Southeast finished its season 36-23 and won back to back regular-season titles for the first time in program history. MSU's tournament championship was its first since 1993 and the Eagles improved to 38-20 with their big win over the Redhawks.

"We did it all year. I think we accomplished a lot," senior right fielder Dalton Hewitt said. "I think it's a great step for the young guys *... to fall on this stage, now they know how it feels and to come back next year. I think they'll make a run next year."

Morehead State players run out to the mound to celebrate with relief pitcher Brent Stoneking who closed the 16-3 championship win over Southeast Missouri State in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament Saturday, May 23, 2015 in Jackson, Tenn. (Fred Lynch)

The Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning and led 8-0 after two complete innings. Nine of their 17 hits came in the first two innings.

Southeast redshirt freshman Matthew Wade made his first collegiate start and took the loss, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning.

MSU held a 9-0 advantage before the Redhawks got on the board in the top of the fifth. Left fielder Hunter Leeper drew a one-out walk and scored on a freshman third baseman Trevor Ezell's triple to right center. Senior second baseman Jason Blum grounded out but plated Ezell.

Eagles starter Patrick McGuff walked back to back batters before being relieved by Brent Stoneking. Hewitt lined a 2-1 pitch hard but right at first baseman Kane Sweeney to strand the runners, and Morehead held a 9-2 lead.

"Had that ball been a couple feet either way all of a sudden it becomes a 9-4 game and then I think there's some things that we could definitely get going from there, but the ball didn't bounce our way," Bieser said. "We didn't play great defense early, we didn't make good pitches early, and give them credit: they came out and they swung the bats unbelievable. They found holes early. We made some good pitches, got some ground balls, but those balls found holes and they were able to get some baserunners on and we just couldn't execute good pitches to get out of that inning.

"And anytime you spot a team five runs it gets really tough. I really think our guys felt like we were going to come back and I did, too. I thought we were in great position to if we could limit their scoring we were going to come back. There was no reason not to think that we weren't going to score eight, nine, 10 runs again and we've been able to do that most of the tournament and we just didn't do it. Whether we ran out of gas or whether their pitching was that good to shut us down we just weren't able to mount anything."

The Redhawks faced deficits after the first inning in each of their previous games in the tournament but in their past three elimination games had been able to put together a big inning and come from behind to win. They finished with just six hits in their season finale.

MSU extended its lead to 10-2 in the bottom of the fifth and a grand slam by Sweeney in the sixth made it 14-2. Right fielder Brandon Rawe had a two-run shot in the eighth.

Blum hit a two-out single to center in his last at-bat as a Redhawk to score the final run of the game in the top of the ninth. He was the only Southeast player with multiple hits against MSU.

"Hopefully it's in and out of my memory pretty quick, but it's part of baseball," Blum said with a laugh. "We knew it was going to be hard and we never gave up. Even though the outcome didn't look like it we never gave up. We always kept scratching and clawing, and I think that's something we can all hang our hats on that we'll be proud of."

The Redhawks are optimistic, regardless of the 13 seniors departing and the possibility of junior left-handed pitchers Alex Winkelman and Joey Lucchesi being drafted, that they'll once again contend for a regular-season championship and the elusive tournament title.

Southeast Missouri State players leave the field after their 16-3 loss to Morehead State in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament Saturday, May 23, 2015 in Jackson, Tenn. (Fred Lynch)

"I think if you're doing your job and getting the right people to come back into your program you're going to be strong year in and year out," Bieser said. "And we are, I feel we're going to suffer a huge hit.

"It's very likely that we could lose our entire starting rotation, but that's something that we planned for. We knew that was going to be a possibility, but that's a good problem to have. That means you've got good players in your program and you've got good pitchers. And those two lefties that we're talking about, they're guys that you can't replace them. You've got to find a way to bring guys in that can slow it down a little bit and get you caught back up. Joey Lucchesi came out of nowhere and there's a good chance he's going to get taken in the draft and that's a guy that maybe early on we weren't thinking he was going to be a draft guy, but we knew Alex Winkelman was going to have a good chance."

Blum, Hewitt and third baseman Andy Lennington were the only seniors that were in the starting lineup Saturday, but they each hit upwards of .300 during their final seasons and contributed throughout much of their careers.

Bieser is confident that next year's team will be able to replace their production somehow, especially after this year's team remained steady offensively despite losing power hitters Derek Gibson and Matt Tellor and the speedy Cole Bieser after last season.

"We're losing some good offense. We've got guys that are very consistent throughout their careers here," Bieser said. "But you think about what we lost last year -- I don't think you can lose more in three guys than what we lost last year in those three seniors -- and we were able to recover that from an offensive standpoint. I think we'll be able to do the same thing. We're going to find a way to recover. You're going to have guys that step up and play really well and that's what we expect with our guys being a year older and the guys we're bringing in to mesh and really continue to keep this program in the front of this conference."

Senior third baseman Andy Lennington said the lopsided loss needed to be "put in perspective."

"You're not going to win them all, your career's going to end eventually no matter what," Lennington said. "Everyone's does at some point. Just got to put it in that perspective and look at the goods, not the bads."

Southeast avenges loss to Belmont

Southeast advanced to the championship round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time since 2008 with a 9-4 victory over No. 6 Belmont in an elimination game earlier Saturday.

Belmont, which defeated the Rehawks to open the tournament, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, knocking Southeast starter Jacob Lawrence out of the game after 2/3 of an inning. Reliever Ryan Lenaburg issued a walk to the first batter he faced to load the bases and fell behind 3-0 to the next batter before recording a strikeout to escape the jam.

Lenaburg walked shortstop Kyle Conger to lead off the second. Conger was bunted to second, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on a base hit by Drew Ferguson to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead.

Southeast had the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, but first baseman Ryan Rippee grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Belmont had a runner on third with two outs in the third after a leadoff single, a stolen base and an error but Lenaburg stranded him with his second strikeout of the frame.

The Bruins scored their final run in the top of the fourth. Right fielder Brennan Washington doubled off the third-base bag, was sacrificed to third and scored on a single that made it 4-0.

The Redhawks drew back-to-back walks and catcher Scott Mitchell singled to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Rippee and left fielder Hunter Leeper followed with consecutive RBI singles to right to cut it to 4-2. Leadoff batter Trevor Ezell then tripled off the wall in right center to drive in three and give Southeast its first lead of the game at 5-4. Ezell accounted for the final run of the inning when he scored on a groundout.

Lenaburg (5-3) allowed just one hit over the final five innings of the game as he picked up the win on the mound. He gave up six hits in 8 1/3 innings of relief, walked three and struck out six.

Southeast added three runs in the bottom of the seventh for the final score.