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STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Southeast Missouri baseball team gave No. 16 Mississippi State (18-9) a run for their money Tuesday evening. The game was tied at two going to the bottom of the ninth. The Bulldogs hit a walk-off single and scored on an error to defeat Southeast in a very well-played game on both sides. Southeast Missouri falls to 14-10 on the season.
 
"Alex [Winkelman] threw the ball very well tonight," said head coach Steve Bieser. "He was a major positive to take away from this game. Obviously, we expected to win this game; but, you know, we played right there along with them."
 
The Redhawk offense wasted no time firing in the first inning. Scott Mitchell had the first hit of the game and Andy Lennington loaded the bases with a single to left; however, the Redhawks failed to capitalize early in the game.
 
Mississippi State touched home first in the game. Brett Pirtle led off the bottom of the second inning with a double hit hard down the left field line. Pirtle was moved over on a sacrifice bunt then scored on a groundout by Derrick Armstrong.
 
The Redhawks took the lead in the fifth inning. Andy Lack drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Clayton Evans and then took third on a failed pickoff attempt. Blum drew a one out walk to put runners on the corners. Matt Tellor drew a walk of his own to load the bases. After going hitless the last two games, Derek Gibson hit a line drive to left to plate Lack and Blum, giving Southeast a 2-1 lead.
 
Mississippi State tied the game on a bases loaded sacrifice fly to center in the seventh inning. Starter Alex Winkelman came out of the game in the seventh after facing three batters in the inning.
 
The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman with no out in the eighth. Christian Hull was pulled from the game and replaced by Greg Mosel. Mosel worked out of the bases loaded, no out jam and came out unscathed. The third out came on a 2-1 putout at the plate when a pitch got by Mitchell and the runner on third tried to take home.
 
"When Greg came in and worked out of that inning, that was the difference in tonight's game. He worked extremely hard to get us out of that inning and gave us a chance to score in the ninth," Bieser added.
 
Going to the bottom of the ninth, tied at two, Zack Randolf hit a single through the left side to put the winning run aboard. He moved to second on a sac bunt. Demarcus Henderson then hit a single to shallow center field. As Cole Bieser went to field the ball to come up firing to home, he couldn't come up with it, allowing the winning run to score.
 
Offensively Tuesday evening, the Bulldogs outhit Southeast 8-5. Five separate Redhawks each contributed a hit, including Mitchell, Tellor, Gibson, Lennington (the two through five-hole hitters) and Bieser.
 
Randolf and Henderson each had two hits in the game for Mississippi State.
 
Winkelman pitched six and a third innings, gave up six hits, two runs, walked two, and struck out three batters. Winkelman faced 28 batters in the game. Mosel (1-2) suffered the loss on the walk-off hit. Mosel went one and a third innings Tuesday.
 
Jonathon Holder (2-1) picked up the win for Mississippi State as he was the last Bulldog pitcher to see action in the game. Holder worked two complete innings, giving up only one hit. As a whole, the Bulldogs used five pitchers in the midweek matchup.
 
Southeast Missouri returns to Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend when they head to Martin, Tenn. for a three-game series with the UT Martin Skyhawks.