SIUE 4 Southeast Missouri 0 - Box Score I PDF Version

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri baseball team dropped their series opener with SIUE 4-0 Friday evening in Edwardsville, Ill. The Redhawks were held to four hits as SIUE starter Travis Felax had a career day with his first career complete game shutout.
 
The Redhawks fell to 15-16 overall and 7-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference with the loss as the Cougars improve 8-16 and 6-7 in the OVC.
 
Southeast starter Will Spitzfaden (3-3) went 7.1 innings allowing 10 hits and four runs with three being earned runs. The lefthander also struck out a career-high five batters.
 
Felax (3-3) threw his third complete game of the season as he tied his career-high with nine strikeouts.
 
The Cougars got on the board in the bottom of the second inning with four runs on four hits as they sent eight batters to the plate. A trio of RBI singles and an error highlighted the frame.
 
The Redhawks threatened to get on the board in the top of the fifth inning as they recorded back-to-back hits with two outs as single by Alex Burridge and a double by Jason Blum gave the Redhawks two runners in scoring position, but Felax got out of the frame by retiring Cole Bieser with the lead in tacked.
 
Felax and Spitzfaden would duel for the rest of the contest, but the SIUE four run second inning was enough as the Cougars took the series opener 4-0.
 
Derek Gibson extended his hitting streak to 11-games with a single in the ninth inning. Matt Tellor added a double in the contest, his fourth extra base hit of the week.
 
The Cougars were led offensively by Ryan Mansfield as he was 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Skyler Geissinger was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
The Redhawks and Cougars return to action Saturday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. Tomorrow's contest has been moved due to the threat of rain in the area on Saturday afternoon.