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CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southeast Missouri baseball team dropped their game Tuesday evening to Southern Illinois (21-20), 5-2. Southeast Missouri falls to 27-13 on the season.
 
This is the first time Southeast has lost two in a row since Mar. 21 and 22 when they lost games one and two to Morehead State at home.
 
"I thought we didn't really have timely hitting today," said head coach Steve Bieser. "We would get guys in scoring position but just couldn't get them in. I have to give SIU credit, they made good pitches when they needed to and got out of situations. We are better offensively that what we showed today. We just didn't have much life out there."
 
The Redhawks touched home once in the third inning. Jason Blum reached on a leadoff error by the shortstop. Blum was bunted over to second and took third on a wild pitch. He was able to walk home when Matt Tellor singled to center field, giving the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
 
With one swing of the bat in the fourth inning, Jake Welch hit a leadoff home run to right, tying the score at 1-1. With one out and runners on first and second, Tyler Rolland singled up the middle to score the go-ahead run. An RBI single by Will Farmer made it 3-1, the eventual game-winning run. With bases loaded and the ninth batter of the inning at the plate, starter Tyler Iago appeared to have injured himself on a pitch, prompting Ryan Lenaburg to come in to the game. Lenaburg got Connor Kopach to fly to right on one pitch, ending the inning.
 
Dalton Hewitt began the sixth inning by drawing a leadoff walk. Tellor knocked a double in the right center gap to put runners in scoring position. Derek Gibson flew out to left to score Hewitt and narrow the Saluki lead to 3-2.
 
Cole Ferguson took the mound for the Redhawks in the seventh inning. Farmer hit a double off the left field wall to begin the frame. With Tellor playing in, he knocked down a hard hit ground ball that dribbled away from him. He went to throw the ball to Blum, who was covering at first, but threw it away, allowing the run to score. On the next play, Kopach laid down what was to be a sacrifice bunt. Ferguson picked it up and threw it just off the mark, forcing Tellor to catch it in the baseline. The batter ran directly in to Tellor's catching hand, forcing his glove to pop off. Tellor immediately went down in pain. Tellor came out of the game. Christian Hull was also brought in to the game to pitch after the play. Another SIU run scored on a fielder's choice, putting SIU up by 5-2.
 
Bieser noted, "I believe the diagnosis will be a little better than it appeared to be at first. It was scary but as Matt got up and walked away, I could tell it wasn't as bad as it would have appeared. It would appear it is a strain up in the forearm area. We will get him checked out and he will be day-to-day for now but we are hopeful everything will be alright."
 
The score would stand the remainder of the game as SIU would force a split in the home-and-home series.
 
Southeast was outhit 9-7 in the game. The Redhawks stranded nine runners on base.
 
Tellor was 2-for-3 with an RBI while Cole Bieser also registered two hits. Gibson extended his hitting and on base streaks to 17 games Tuesday evening.
 
Iago suffered the loss and falls to 4-3 on the season. Iago worked three and two thirds innings, allowing three runs on six hits. Lenaburg pitched two and a third innings out of the pen allowing only one hit, striking out two. Hull worked two scoreless, hitless innings also Tuesday.
 
Bieser added, "Ryan looked good when he came in today. He took some suggestions we gave to him and took them to heart. He made certain adjustments on the mound and I thought he threw the ball outstanding. If he can stay with the approach he took today and goes pitch-by-pitch, we will see some good things from him moving forward."
 
Rolland and Farmer were the only Saluki batters with more than one hit in the game. They each had two with an RBI apiece. Welch finished 1-for-4 with two RBI.
 
Austin McPheron (3-1), whom the Redhawks defeated two weeks ago in Cape, recorded the victory. McPheron worked six complete innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits to Southeast. Tyler Dray earned his seventh save of the season after coming in and slamming the door on the Redhawks in the ninth.
 
Southeast will travel to Jacksonville, Ala. to face off against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks this weekened. Jacksonville sits in third-place in the Ohio Valley Conference right now. First pitch Friday is slated for 6 p.m.