CLARKSVILLE, TENN. – The Southeast Missouri baseball team battled back-and-forth with Austin Peay, but the final score had the Governors on top, 6-5. Southeast fell to 25-19 overall and 11-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks will head into the final weekend of OVC play against Eastern Illinois in second place.
Casey Jones led the way offensively with a 3-for-3 performance. He scored one time, drove in one RBI and walked once. Michael Adamson, Trenton Moses, Blake Slattery, Louie Haseltine and Kody Campbell each added a hit for Southeast.
Southeast drew six walks as a team and struck out just one time against the OVC's strikeout leader, Zach Toney.
Brad LaBruyere was charged with the loss, just his second of the season. He went 6.1 innings, gave up seven runs on eight hits and struck out two batters. Christian Hull threw the final 1.1 innings for the Redhawks. He gave up one hit and struck out one without allowing a run.
Austin Peay took an early 1-0 lead after one full inning of play. Michael Blanchard drew a one out walk from Brad LaBruyere and advanced to second on an errant throw on the attempted pickoff, which would be crucial. Greg Bachman singled to left field to drive in Blanchard from second, but Bachman would be thrown out at second on a missile from Michael Adamson. John Hogan flied out to end the inning, making the run unearned.
Southeast tied the game with one run in the top of the third inning. Ky Burgess led off the inning with a walk and Jesse Tierney and Kenton Parmley combined for 17 pitches in their at-bats to draw walks to load the bases. Tim Rupp hit a sacrifice fly out to right field, which would plate Burgess.
The Redhawks took the lead in the fourth with two runs on three hits.
Adamson led off the inning with a line drive single through the left side and Trenton Moses laced a single through the left side five pitches later. Casey Jones gave Southeast a 2-1 lead with a single to left center field, which scored Adamson and moved Moses to third. Moses would score on a double play ball off the bat of Blake Slattery, extending the Redhawk lead to 3-1.
The Governors threatened in the bottom half of the fourth with a leadoff double from Michael Blanchard. LaBruyere recorded two fly outs and an inning ending strikeout to end the threat.
Michael Adamson and Trenton Moses recorded the first two outs in the sixth inning on fly outs to the warning track and Blake Slattery ended the inning with a hard hit ball to dead center.
Austin Peay took a 4-3 lead with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a home run from John Hogan. Blanchard led off the inning with a bunt single and Greg Bachman singled through the left side to bring up the left-handed swinging Hogan. He deposited the 2-and-0 pitch from LaBruyere over the right field line wall for a three-run blast.
Jordan Hankins led off the Governors half of the seventh inning with a double off the wall in right center field, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Torres. Cody Hudson hit a high chopper to Casey Jones, which was high enough to get Hankins across home plate, as Hudson reached on the fielder's choice. Gautier singled through the right side to end LaBruyere's day on the mound. Ryan Prickett entered and walked Blanchard on four pitches before giving up a sacrifice fly to Greg Bachman, scoring Hudson from third. Christian Hull entered the game and gave up an RBI single to right center to Hogan, extending Austin Peay's lead to 7-3 after seven innings.
Southeast did not go down without a fight in the ninth inning. Trenton Moses led off with a five-pitch walk and Casey Jones singled through the right side to bring up Slattery. On a 1-and-2 count, Slattery drilled a single up the middle to load the bases. Ky Burgess grounded into a double play ball, but Moses would cross the plate on the play, cutting the Governors lead to 7-4. Louie Haseltine put runners on first and third after drawing a four-pitch walk. Kody Campbell came in to pinch hit, his first at-bat since April 4. On the first pitch, the runners moved up 90 feet after a wild pitch, bringing Jones home for the fifth Redhawk run of the game. Campbell kept the Redhawks alive with a line drive off Governors closer Ryne Harper's glove for a single. Cole Bieser pinch ran for Campbell, representing the tying run. Bieser stole second base, moving the tying run to second. Kenton Parmley battled, but in the end, could not get the tying run across the plate, as Southeast fell to Austin Peay, 7-5.
