CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (1-3) picked up its first win of the 2024 season with an 8-7 win over Murray State (3-1) on Wednesday afternoon at Capaha Field. 
 
Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Redhawks exploded for four home runs in the inning to take a 7-5 lead into the final third of the ball game. Bryce Cannon, Ben Palmer, Peyton Leeper, and Michael Mugan all registered home runs in the inning. 
 
Outfielder Michael Mugan finished the day going 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run, and a pair of RBIs. For Mugan, the sixth inning blast was his third of the season. 
 
Wednesday's game saw 21 combined hits and 15 runs between the two teams as eight different Redhawks recorded a hit in the ball game. 
 
RHP Tommy Windt (1-1) bounced back after the weekend and threw a solid 3.0 innings out of the bullpen for the Redhawks. The right-hander allowed just one run over the 10 batters he faced and struck out a hitter. 
 
SEMO fell behind in the second inning with a solo home run from Murray State first baseman Carson Garner off starting pitcher Sam Heyman. 
 
Heyman finished his outing over 4.0 innings, allowing just three runs on six hits. He recorded three strikeouts and just one walk. 
 
SEMO would not be behind for long. The Redhawks answered Murray's second inning run with an RBI fielder's choice by catcher Ty Stauss that would score Josh Cameron from third base. 
 
The Racers would get runs in the fourth and the fifth innings. In the fourth, MSU's Taylor Howell tripled to center field. One batter later, Jacob Pennington plated Howell with a sacrifice fly to left field. 
 
An RBI double and a home run in the Racers' fifth inning would give them a 5-1 advantage going into the sixth inning. 
 
SEMO was held scoreless over third, fourth, and fifth innings by MSU pitchers Kane Elmy and Thomas McNabb, but the Redhawks would find their success deeper into the MSU bullpen. 
 
Stauss got the sixth inning rally going with one out off a single to left field to bring up Cannon who crushed the ball over the right-center field wall for his second home run in two games. 
 
Shortstop Ben Palmer followed with a solo blast, his second home run in two games, to get the Redhawks to within a run. 
 
After a fly ball out, the Redhawks turned the lineup over and saw designated hitter Peyton Leeper crush a ball down the right field line to tie the game at five with two outs. 
Outfielder Michael Mugan hit his third home run of his SEMO career following a Brooks Kettering walk to give SEMO a 7-5 lead going into the seventh inning. 
 
Windt's scoreless seventh and eighth innings put SEMO in a spot to win the game. An Ian Riley solo home run, his first of his SEMO career, would offer the Redhawks an insurance run as they led 8-7 going into the final inning. 
 
RHP Kyle Miller, the all-time saves leader in SEMO history, shut the door on the Racers in the ninth inning to record the save and to pick up SEMO's first win of the season. 
 
Looking Ahead
SEMO Baseball will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 23, when they take on St. Thomas (MN). First pitch is slated for 3 p.m., CT. at Capaha Field.