Game 5-8
St. Thomas (1-3) 
Southeast Missouri (1-3)
Dates: Friday, Feb. 23 – Sunday, Feb. 25
Times: Friday: 3 p.m. | Saturday: 12 & 4 p.m. | Sunday: 1 p.m. 
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Facility: Capaha Field 
Series: First meeting
Head Coaches: SEMO; Andy Sawyers (182-173, Eighth Season) | St. Thomas; Chris Olean (27-67, Third Season)

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Game Notes (PDF)
 
Redhawks Host St. Thomas for Weekend Series at Capaha Field
Southeast Missouri Baseball (1-3) will host the St. Thomas (MN) Tommies (1-3) for a four-game set this weekend, Friday, Feb. 23 – Sunday, Feb. 25, at Capaha Field. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. on Friday, 12 & 4 p.m. on Saturday, and will conclude at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. 
 
Series History
The Redhawks and Tommies will meet for the first time on the diamond this weekend. St. Thomas is a member of the Summit League and is in the final year of a four-year transition period to Division-I athletics. St. Thomas is led by Chris Olean who is 27-67 in his third season at the helm. 
 
Promotions
The weekend series will feature new seasonal promotions to Capaha Field beginning on Saturday. The first 'Family Funday' will take place on Saturday for fans. Young Redhawk fans will get the chance to Run the Bases on the field after the conclusion of the second game. Sunday's game will feature 'Hot Chocolate Sunday' courtesy of Ty's Summer Sno. The first 100 fans in the ballpark will receive free hot chocolate. For more info click here. 
 
First Collegiate Hit
Center fielder Ian Riley registered his first career hit on Tuesday night. In the eighth inning, Riley crushed a ball to the right-center field gap that cleared the fence to give the Redhawks their eighth run of the ball game. For Riley, it was not only his first hit in DI baseball, but also his first home run. Riley has started two games thus far for SEMO. 
 
The Long Ball
So far this season, the Redhawks have had big production via the home run ball including a four-home run inning on Tuesday night. Outfielder Michael Mugan, short stop Ben Palmer, designated hitter Peyton Leeper, and first baseman Bryce Cannon all homered in the inning to give SEMO a 7-5 lead. As a team, SEMO has hit nine home runs in just four games in 2024 led by Mugan. Mugan has three home runs on the season. Palmer and Cannon have two apiece as well. 
 
Get 'Em On, Get 'Em In
The Redhawks have gotten on base plenty through the first four games of the season. As a team, SEMO has a .373 on-base percentage led by Michael Mugan and Chance Resetich with a .550 & .500 OBP, respectively. The Redhawks have 23 RBIs as a team led by Mugan (7). In Tuesday's contest, catcher Ty Stauss registered the game's first RBI. With a runner on third base, Stauss grounded into a fielder's choice to score Josh Cameron from third. 
 
Good Eye
SEMO has drawn 16 walks as an offense this season led by second baseman Brooks Kettering with five. Including Kettering, three Redhawks have multiple base-on-balls this season, and seven have drawn at least one so far. 
 
Miller Gets the Save
Closer Kyle Miller, the all-time saves leader in SEMO history, picked up his first save of the season on Tuesday night. Leading 8-5 in the visitor's ninth inning, Miller allowed just two runs to pick up the 8-7 save over Murray State. On the season, Miller has appeared in 3-of-4 games, registering two strikeouts and just three hits to opposing hitters. 
 
Last Time Out
The Redhawks picked up their first win of the 2024 campaign with an 8-7, come-from-behind victory over Murray State on Tuesday night. 
 
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.
 
About St. Thomas
St. Thomas is coming to Cape Girardeau for the first time off a 1-3 weekend at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. The Tommies split their games against Illinois State (1-1) and dropped both to Saint Louis (0-2).
 
St. Thomas finished their weekend with 49 runs led by Matthew Maulik who started the season with a .636 batting average, 2.237 OPS, seven hits, six RBIs, and three home runs. 
 
The Tommies feature the Summit League Preseason Player to Watch in Ben Vujovich. Vujovich posted 10 hits over the weekend, including two doubles and triple. 
 
RHP Devon Schewe picked up the Tommies lone win of the weekend, posting a 5.40 ERA and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings played. 
 
The Tommies are led by head coach Chris Olean who is in his third season at the helm of St. Thomas. Olean has a 27-67 record overall.