CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Junior right-handed pitcher Clay Chandler pitched a complete game shutout of SIUE (4-19, 2-9 OVC) Saturday, leading the Redhawks to a 4-0 victory.
 
Southeast has won nine consecutive games and remains perfect in Ohio Valley Conference play at 11-0. On the season, the Redhawks are 19-8.
 
Chandler allowed just four hits to the Cougars in his nine scoreless innings. He struck out 11 hitters and walked only one on just 105 pitches. 72% of Chandler's pitches were for strikes. He retired the final eight batters of the game.
 
"I can usually tell when Clay is on in the first inning. If his fastball is crisp and his slider is going downhill and has good break to it, you know he's on," Steve Bieser said of his starting pitcher. "Clay is an adrenaline guy; he feeds off energy and there was great energy at the park today and I just had that feeling he was going to be on."
 
Offensively, Southeast used 10 hits to drive in their four runs. Trevor Ezell led the way for the offense, going 3-for-4 while driving in two of the Redhawks' runs. He also scored a run in the game. It was Ezell's 10^th multi-hit game of the season. On top of his hitting, Ezell stole three bases in the contest.
 
Bieser added, "I thought the offense was good again today. It was a tough day to hit with the wind blowing strong the whole game. We actually caught a couple breaks with the wind with balls we put in the air but that was not our goal. We were wanting to put the ball more on a line or on the ground just because it was so tough to hit the ball through that wind. Being able to manufacture runs and move runners up and steal bases was a positive for our offense."
 
The Redhawks earned the win in front of a crowd of 2,025 at Capaha Park Saturday. Wings Etc. and River Eagle Distributing sponsored the first free tailgate of the season.
 
"I'd like to thank Wings Etc. and River Eagle Distributing for providing the food and beverages today at Capaha. Our fans look forward to our tailgates every season and we love the energy they provide for us during those games," Bieser added.  
 
The Redhawks executed some small ball in the first inning to plate the first run of the game. Ezell led off the inning with a base hit to right. After a one-out walk to Garrett Gandolfo, both runners pulled off a double steal to move into scoring position. A groundout to short by Branden Boggetto plated Ezell, putting Southeast up 1-0 in the first.
 
Andy Lack started the fifth inning with an infield single and moved up to second on a throwing error by the shortstop on the play. He was bunted to third by Daniel Costello and scored on a single to left by Ezell to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
 
With two down in the bottom of the seventh, Ezell doubled in Costello to add to the lead, 3-0.
 
The Redhawks tacked on one more run in the eighth when Boggetto doubled to right to plate Gandolfo, widening the lead to 4-0 on the Cougars.
 
Chandler fanned the final out of the game to secure the complete game shutout and register his 11^th strikeout.
 
Lack and Costello each earned two hits in the game while Boggetto picked up the other two RBI.
 
Ezell's three stolen bases were half of the Redhawks' six total. It comes on the heels of Southeast stealing five bags in game one of the series. In the two games, Southeast is 11-for-11 on the base paths. 
 
SIUE's Keaton Wright was responsible for two of the Cougars' four hits in the game.
 
Jarrett Bednar (0-6) picked up the loss on the mound for SIUE. Bednar gave up three runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. He struck out three Redhawks and walked one.
 
The Redhawks will go for the series sweep of SIUE Sunday at 1 p.m. from Capaha Field.