Southeast Missouri (23-17) at Lipscomb (17-25)

Series Information
Dates: May 13-15, 2021
Schedule: May 13 - 6 p.m.; May 14 - 4 p.m.; May 15 - 2 p.m., CT
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Facility: Dugan Field
Series: SEMO leads, 6-3
Last Meeting: LU 8, SEMO 7 (May 6, 2018 | Nashville, Tenn.)
Head Coaches: Andy Sawyers (198-140 overall; 111-113 at SEMO; 63-54 OVC). Jeff Forehand (596-558-1 overall; 385-416 at LU).

Follow the Redhawks
Watch: ESPN+ 
Radio: SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Twitter: @SEMObaseball
Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)

Probable Starting Pitchers
Game 1 - Dylan Dodd, LHP (SEMO) / Dylan Bierman, RHP (LU)
Game 2 - Bryce Grossius, RHP (SEMO) / Ike Buxton, RHP (LU)
Game 3 - TBA (SEMO) / TBA (LU)

Redhawks Add Lipscomb Series
Southeast Missouri (23-17) will travel to ASUN Conference member Lipscomb (17-25) for a three-game series. SEMO and LU will play Thursday at 6 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m., CT.

Follow the Redhawks
All three games SEMO's series with Lipscomb will air live on ESPN+.Fans can listen at ESPN 93.5 FM and 1220 AM. Erik Sean will call the action. Live stats can be accessed at LipscombSports.com. Twitter updates provided @SEMObaseball.

Series History
Southeast Missouri and Lipscomb meet for the 10th time Thursday. The Redhawks hold a 6-3 lead in its all-time series with LU. SEMO dropped a pair of one-run games (7-6, 8-7) the last time these teams met on May 4 and May 6, 2018 (Nashville, Tenn.).

Series Wins
Southeast Missouri recorded nine series wins this season, seven of which came in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks beat South Alabama (2-1), Illinois State (3-1), SIU Edwardsville (2-1), Austin Peay (2-1), Jacksonville State (2-1), Murray State (2-1),  Tennessee Tech (2-1), Belmont (2-1) and Eastern Kentucky (2-1) for those victories. SIUE, JSU and MSU were ahead of SEMO in the OVC standings when the Redhawks faced them. The nine series wins are the most in a season under Head Coach Andy Sawyers.

OVC Leader 
Southeast Missouri (15-9) moved into first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with its series victory over Eastern Kentucky (May 7-8). Morehead State (12-9) entered last weekend in first place, but dropped to third after losing two of three to Tennessee Tech. SEMO and Murray State (15-9) have the same conference records, but the Redhawks won two of three against the Racers earlier this year. SEMO's 15 OVC wins are tied for first in the league. The Redhawks only series loss in conference play came at Eastern Illinois (Mar. 26-27).

Non-Conference Games
The Redhawks are 8-8 in non-conference games this season. Southeast Missouri played three teams out of the Missouri Valley Conference during non-league action, including Missouri State (0-1), Southern Illinois (0-1) and Illinois State (3-1). 

Morehead State Series Canceled
Southeast Missouri was originially supposed to play a three-game series at Morehead State on May 14-15, but those games were canceled due to COVID-19 protocols in the Eagles program. As a result, Morehead State did not have the requisite number of student-athletes available to compete in the series. The series will not be rescheduled and the games will be considered no contest in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. SEMO wraps up its regular season schedule with one final OVC series vs. UT Martin (May 20-21) in Cape Girardeau.

Dodd is Rolling
Dylan Dodd threw seven shutout innings for the second-straight start when he beat Eastern Kentucky (May 7). Dodd allowed only three hits, struck out eight and walked one en route to his sixth win of the season. He has pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings. The last run Dodd allowed was in the top of the third inning vs. Tennessee Tech (Apr. 16). 

Countdown to 200
Andy Sawyers is just two wins away from reaching 200 in his career as a collegiate head coach. Sawyers is 198-140 between head coaching stints at Hutchinson Community College (87-27) and Southeast Missouri (111-113).

Grossius Logs First Weekend Start
Bryce Grossius made his first career weekend start in game two of Southeast Missouri's series against Eastern Kentucky (May 7). Grossius threw six scoreless innings with six shutouts, allowed five hits and no walks in his strong outing. It was the longest outing of Grossius' career. Grossius started on the mound for the fourth time this year. His previous three starts were in midweek contests. 

Redhawks Beat Colonels
Southeast Missouri overcame a five-run deficit to pull off a 7-6 come from behind series clinching win over Eastern Kentucky (May 8). The Redhawks trailed, 5-0, before scoring the next seven runs of the game to take the lead. Andrew Keck's double in the seventh inning scored Connor Basler for what ended up being  the decisive run of the game.  

Wilber Leads OVC in Batting Average
Tyler Wilber leads the Ohio Valley Conference and ranks 15th in the nation with a .411 batting average. Wilber also leads the league and stands 12th nationally in hits (65). He is also among the OVC's top 10 leaders in slugging percentage (5th, .614), on-base percentage (4th, .475), RBI (6th, 43) and total bases (7th, 97).

Wilber's Career Long Hitting Streak Ends at 15 Games 
Tyler Wilber's career long hitting streak ended at 15 games against Eastern Kentucky (May 7). Wilber collected multiple hits 10 times during that stretch. It was the longest hitting streak of any Redhawk since Trevor Ezell hit safely in 18-straight games during the 2016 season.

First Shutout
Southeast Missouri recorded its first shutout of the season with a 12-0 win at Belmont (Apr. 30). Dylan Dodd allowed just two hits and struck out eight in seven innings to key the win. He retired 20 of the 22 hitters he faced and no-hit the Bruins for five innings. SEMO blanked an Ohio Valley Conference opponent on the road for the first time in six years. Interestingly enough, Belmont was also on the losing end of that contest by an identical score of 12-0 on May 14, 2015. The Redhawks ended up shutting out the Bruins twice in their series win.

Dodd Reaches 200 Career Strikeouts
Dylan Dodd reached 200 career strikeouts against Eastern Kentucky (May 7). Dodd threw seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts on his way to that milestone. He has 200 strikeouts in 173 innings over 29 career starts on the mound. Dodd struck out eight or more in 10 of his 11 starts this year. He ranks ninth among the school's all-time career strikeout leaders and is fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.4).

That Was Close
Tyler Wilber narrowly missed hitting for the cycle when he went 3-for-4 against Eastern Kentucky (May 8). Wilber fell a triple shy of the cycle. He hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning, singled and doubled to complete his seventh three-hit game of the season.

Leeper Triples Again 
Peyton Leeper hit his team-high fourth triple of the season against Eastern Kentucky (May 8). Leeper ranks second in the Ohio Valley Conference in that category.

Career Stolen Bases Record in Sight 
Connor Basler is second on the team with eight stolen bases this season. Basler ranks third all-time among Southeast Missouri's all-time career stolen base leaders with 50. He needs three more to break the school's all-time career record. Denver Stuckey (2000-03) currently holds the record with 52 stolen bases.

Getting on Base
Wade Stauss and Tyler Wilber have reached base in 19 and 18 consecutive games, respectively. Andrew Keck had the longest such streak of any Redhawk so far when he reached base in 25-consecutive games from Mar. 12-May 1.

Top Threats
Tyler Wilber and Jevon Mason lead Southeast Missouri in batting average hitting .411 and .364, respectively. Mason also tops the Redhawks with a .475 on-base percentage, while Wilber is also first on the team in hits (65), RBI (43), doubles (10) and slugging percentage (.614). 

NCAA Top-25 Rankings
Tyler Wilber ranks 15th in the nation in batting average (.412) and 12th in both hits (61) and hits per game (1.6). Peyton Leeper rates sixth in sacrifice bunts (9) and 10th in sacrifice bunts per game (0.25). 

OVC Top-Three
Southeast Missouri ranks third in the Ohio Valley Conference in stolen bases (49), third in earned run average (5.28), second in fielding percentage (.973), first in sacrifice bunts (29), third in batters struck out (349) and tied for second in wins (23). Individually, Tyle Wilber leads the league in batting average (.411) and hits (65), Peyton Leeper is second in triples (4) and first in sacrifice bunts (9), Wade Stauss is second in hit by pitch (13) and Dylan Dodd ranks first in ERA (2.56), strikeouts (87) and innings pitched (70.1), second in opposing bating average (.211) and tied for second in wins (6).

Over .400
Tyler Wilber is one of just two players in the Ohio Valley Conference hitting over .400 this season. Wilber boasts a league-best .411 batting average. Eastern Illinois' Trey Sweeney follows with a .404 clip.

19 and Counting
Tyler Wilber leads Southeast Missouri and is second in the Ohio Valley Conference with 19 multiple-hit games this season. Wilber collected multiple hits a total of 55 times during his SEMO career.

Over 150 Starts
Two Redhawks have made over 150 starts in their careers. Second baseman Connor Basler tallied a team-high 210 career starts and mainstay center fielder Danny Wright has accumulated 197. Both Basler and Wright are fifth-year seniors after joining Southeast Missouri's baseball program in 2017.

Double-Digit Hits 
Southeast Missouri registered 10 or more hits a total of 18 times this season. SEMO collected a season-best 19 hits against Austin Peay (Apr. 28). The Redhawks are 12-6 in games where they put up double-digit hits. 

Seven With Home Runs 
Seven different Southeast Missouri players have homered this season. Wade Stauss leads the way with nine home runs, while Tyler Wilber and Andrew Keck follow with five each. Austin Blazevic, Lincoln Andrews, Connor Basler and Danny Wright also homered.

Career Rankings
Tyler Wilber presently ranks third all-time among Southeast Missouri's career leaders with a .397 batting average. Wilber has the highest career batting average of any player during SEMO's NCAA Division I era (since 1992). Danny Wright is third in hit by pitch (35) and Connor Basler rates fourth in hit by pitch (29) and tied for second in stolen bases (50). Dylan Dodd ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts/9 innings (10.4), ninth in strikeouts and sixth in walks allowed/9 innings (2.3).