Jacksonville State (11-12, 4-2 OVC) vs. Southeast Missouri (11-12, 5-4 OVC)

Series Information
Dates: April 2-3, 2021
Schedule: Apr. 2 - 5 p.m., CT; Apr. 3 - 1 p.m., CT (DH)
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Capaha Field (2,000)
Series: JSU leads, 27-25 
Last Meeting: JSU 8, SEMO 7 (Apr. 7, 2019 | Cape Girardeau, Mo.)
Head Coaches: Andy Sawyers (186-135 overall; 99-108 at SEMO; 53-49 OVC). Jim Case (597-487 overall; 597-487 at JSU).

Follow the Redhawks
Radio: SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean, Friday; Clint Allen, Saturday)
Watch: ESPN+ (Saturday DH Only) Game 1 | Game 2
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 
Twitter: @SEMObaseball
Series Notes: Southeast Missouri Notes (PDF)

Probable Starting Pitchers
Game 1 - Dylan Dodd, LHP (SEMO) / Christian Edwards, RHP (JSU)
Game 2 - Noah Niznik, LHP (SEMO) / Dylan Hathcock, LHP (JSU)
Game 3 - TBA (SEMO) / Colin Casey, RHP (JSU)

Redhawks Host Jacksonville State
Southeast Missouri (11-12, 5-4) hosts Ohio Valley Conference co-leader Jacksonville State (11-12, 4-2) in a three-game series this weekend. The Redhawks and Gamecocks play a single game at 5 p.m. Friday and a 1 p.m., CT doubleheader Saturday. 

Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to this weekend's series at SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM and 1220 AM. Erik Sean will call the action Friday and Clint Allen will handle play-by-play Saturday. Live stats can be accessed at GoSoutheast.com. Twitter updates provided @SEMObaseball.

Series History
Friday marks the 53rd meeting between Southeast Missouri and Jacksonville State. JSU holds a slight 27-25 advantage in the all-time series. The Gamecocks have come away with series wins the last two times these teams have met in 2018 (2-1) and 2019 (2-1).

Closing in on 100
Andy Sawyers is just one win away from reaching 100 victories as Southeast Missouri's head coach. Sawyers, in his fifth year at the helm, is 99-108 overall at SEMO.

March is Over
The Redhawks wrapped up its second month of the season with a close 9-8 extra inning loss to Missouri State (Mar. 30). Southeast Missouri, which has dropped four of its last five contests, finished with a 9-7 record, three series wins and three extra inning victories in March.

Redhawks Come Up Short in One-Run Loss to Missouri State
Missouri State rallied to score five runs in the final two frames to edge Southeast Missouri, 9-8, in 10 innings on a rainy day at Capaha Field Tuesday. MSU trailed, 6-4, when it scored twice in the top of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. With a tiebreaker rule in effect, Ben Whetstone was placed on second base and quickly scored the go-ahead run on a single. On the next play, Jaden Rolffs hit a two-run home run to give the Bears a three-run lead. SEMO battled back in the bottom of the 10th inning when Jevon Mason singled home Danny Sperling. Danny Wright later scored on a two-out base hit by Tyler Wilber to narrow to get the Redhawks within a run, but MSU hung on for the victory.

Where They Stand
Southeast Missouri is tied for third in the Ohio Valley Conference standings entering this Easter weekend. The Redhawks and SIU Edwardsville share that spot with identical 5-4 league records. Murray State (4-2) and Jacksonville State (4-2) are at the top of the standings. Morehead State (2-1) is also ahead of SEMO.

Last OVC Series
The Redhawks dropped two of three at Eastern Illinois (Mar. 26-27) in their first Ohio Valley Conference series loss of the season. Southeast Missouri opened the weekend with a 3-2 victory over the Panthers. Tyler Wilber smacked a home run with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game and Austin Blazevic scored the winning run on a double moments later to secure the win. EIU, however, regrouped to win both games of a doubleheader, 9-2, 8-4, to take the series.

Getting on Base
Andrew Keck has reached base safely in 12 consecutive games. Keck also hit safely in 10 of those contests. His reached base streak is the second-longest of any Redhawk this season behind Peyton Leeper's 13-game stretch (Feb. 19-Mar. 13). 

Mason Runs Hitting Streak to Seven Games 
Jevon Mason hit safely in each of his last seven games. Mason delivered the game-winning walk off single in the bottom of the 11th inning in Southeast Missouri's 6-5 win over Austin Peay (Mar. 20). He then followed that up with a season-high three hits against the Governors and another single vs. Southern Illinois (Mar. 24). Mason hit .467 with seven hits, a run scored, double and one RBI to lead the Redhawks in their series at Eastern Illinois (Mar. 26-27). Most recently, he had three hits, two runs scored and one RBI vs. Missouri State (Mar. 30). Mason is hitting .395 in 14 games and 11 starts this year. 

First Career Home Run for Basler 
Fifth-year senior Connor Basler hit the first home run of his career against Missouri State (Mar. 30). Basler, who has played in a total of 201 games as a Redhawk, hit a two-run shot to left field to help lift Southeast Missouri to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. It was Basler's third multiple-hit game of the season.

Career Stolen Base Record in Reach 
Connor Basler is tied for second on the team with six stolen bases this season. Basler ranks tied for third all-time among Southeast Missouri's all-time career stolen base leaders with 48. He needs five more to break the school's all-time career record. Denver Stuckey (2000-03) currently holds the record with 52 stolen bases.

NCAA Top-25 Rankings
As a team, Southeast Missouri ranks 21st in the nation in stolen bases (36) and 25th in sacrifice bunts (14). Individually, Peyton Leeper is third nationally in triples (3) and 21st in walks (20). Connor Basler ranks eighth in sacrifice bunts (5) and both Dylan Dodd (6) and Alex Niznik (6) are third in games started.

Atop the OVC
Southeast Missouri leads the Ohio Valley Conference in stolen bases (36) and sacrifice bunts (14). Individually, Peyton Leeper is first in both triples (3) and walks (20), Connor Basler is tied for first in sacrifice bunts (4), Andrew Keck leads the league in stolen bases (10) and Dylan Dodd is first in strikeouts (52) and innings pitched (38.2). 

Wilber Seventh in the OVC in Batting Average
Shortstop Tyler Wilber ranks seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference with a .352 batting average. Wilber is also third among league leaders in hits (31) and second in assists (59). He hit safely in nine of his last 11 games. 

Over 150 Starts
Two Redhawks have made over 150 starts in their careers. Second baseman Connor Basler tallied a team-high 196 career starts and mainstay center fielder Danny Wright has accumulated 184. Both Basler and Wright are fifth-year seniors after joining Southeast Missouri's baseball program in 2017.

Extra, Extra
The Redhawks concluded their series against Austin Peay by splitting a pair of extra inning games at Capaha Field on Mar. 20. Southeast Missouri trailed, 5-1, in the bottom of the ninth inning when it scored four runs on four hits to send game one to extra innings. Connor Basler delivered a two-RBI single with two outs to tie the game. With runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the 11th, Jevon Mason delivered a walk off single to left and Peyton Leeper scored the winning run. In game two, the Redhawks battled back from an 11-5 deficit by scoring three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Basler again came up big, this time with a two-out three-RBI double to tie the game. APSU, however, scored one run in the top of the 12th to edge the Redhawks. SEMO has played seven extra-inning games and is 4-3 in those contests this year. 

Series Wins
Southeast Missouri recorded four series wins so far this season. The Redhawks beat South Alabama (2-1), Illinois State (3-1), SIU Edwardsville (2-1) and Austin Peay (2-1) for those victories. If SEMO comes away with a series win at Eastern Illinois this weekend, it would mark the first time the Redhawks won three-straight conference series since 2018. SEMO claimed a total of seven series wins against league foes that year.

Walk Off Wins
Southeast Missouri earned its second walk off win of the season when it rallied to beat Austin Peay, 6-5, in 11 innings on Mar. 20. Jevon Mason became the second Redhawk to walk off with a game-winning hit when he drove in Peyton Leeper on a one-out single to left. Leeper, a freshman, hit a sinking line drive base hit in the bottom of the 10th inning to give SEMO its other walk off win, a 4-3 victory over Illinois State on Mar. 5. The walk off hits are career firsts for Mason and Leeper.

Basler is Clutch
Nine-hole hitter Connor Basler sent both games of Southeast Missouri's doubleheader against Austin Peay (Mar. 20) to extra innings. Basler had a two-out, two-RBI single to cap a four-run ninth inning during game one and then ripped a two-out, three-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning of game two. He had at least one RBI in six of his last nine starts.

About Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State, picked to finish second in this year's Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, comes to Cape Girardeau currently in first-place tie with Murray State at the top of the conference standings. JSU swept Tennessee Tech (Mar. 26-27) and dropped a 5-4 midweek contest vs. Samford Tuesday. Colin Casey, Jackson Tavel and Corley Woods shared this week's OVC Pitcher of the Week accolade after the trio combined for a nine inning no-hitter on Mar. 27. As a team, JSU leads the OVC in ERA (4.66) and fielding percentage (.979), and ranks second in batting average (.280). Jaylen Williams (.370) and Nash Adams (.370) are fourth and fifth in the league in hitting, respectively.