Games 15-17
Southeast Missouri (6-8) at Marshall (4-8)
 
Game Information
Date: Friday, March 8 – Sunday, March 10
Time: 12:00 p.m. | 2:00 p.m. | 12:00 p.m.
Location: Huntington, W. Va. 
Venue: Jack Cook Field
Series: First Meeting
 
Head Coaches: Andy Sawyers (187-178, Eighth Season); Greg Beals (20-45, Second Season)
 
Follow the Redhawks
Radio: 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (All Games)
Twitter: @SEMOBaseball
 
Game Notes (PDF)
 
Redhawks on Road for Three-Game Set at Marshall
Southeast Missouri Baseball (6-8) will head to Huntington, West Virginia to take on Sun Belt Conference-member Marshall (4-8) for a three-game weekend set. The series will begin on Friday, March 8, at 5 p.m., CT. Saturday's game is slated to begin at 2 p.m., with the series finale beginning at 12 p.m., CT. on Sunday.
 
Series History
SEMO & Marshall will meet for the first time on the diamond this weekend as the Redhawks will be just the third team to play at Jack Cook Field. The 2024 season marks the first year of Marshall's new baseball field. 
 
Changing Schedule
The Redhawks and Thundering Herd were slated to play at 5 p.m., 2 p.m., and 12 p.m., on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Due to potential weather in the Huntington-area, Friday's game has been moved to 12 p.m., CT (1 P.M., ET) with changes to the rest of the series possible. Follow @SEMOBaseball on social media for the latest updates throughout the weekend. 
 
Last Time Out
SEMO Baseball dropped their Tuesday midweek cntest to Conference USA member Middle Tennessee by a final of score 8-2. Designated hitter Ty Stauss led the Redhawks offense at the plate going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. As a team, SEMO registered eight hits but was outhit by the Blue Raiders by a 13-8 mark. 
 
LHP Logan Katen had a very solid outing out of the bullpen for the Redhawks. The lefty pitched the final 3.0 innings of the ball game and surrendered just two hits. He allowed no runs and only one walk over 11 batters faced. 
 
The Blue Raiders got the scoring going in their first at-bat of the contest after a leadoff single by third baseman Greg Jennings and a sacrifice bunt by Trace Phillips got Jennings into scoring position. MTSU's catcher Briggs Ruther lined a single into left field to score Jennings to give MTSU a 1-0 lead. 
 
A leadoff hit batsmen in the second inning and single to left center put Blue Raiders on the corners with just one out. MTSU would rattle home five runs in the inning beginning with an RBI ground out by Clay Badylak. An RBI single by Phillips pushed across another run for MTSU. 
 
Following a walk that would load the bases, left fielder Jackson Galloway blew the game open with a bases clearing triple to give MTSU a 6-0 lead after their second at-bat. 
 
The Redhawks would get their only two runs of the ball game with one swing of the bat as catcher Shea McGahan hit a two-run home run to left field off MTSU's starting pitcher Bryant Beranek (1-2). 
 
Just one more MTSU run in their sixth inning would be all the offense in the game as SEMO struggled to piece their offense together on Tuesday night.
 
On Base Streak
Short stop Ben Palmer has reached base safely in every game this season. The Minnesota native has reached base in 14-straight games, a team-high and is third on the team in on-base percentage (.426). Outfielder Michael Mugan has also reached base safely in the last nine games.  
 
OVC Pitcher of the Week
LHP Haden Dow was selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league announced on Monday afternoon. Dow picked up his second win of the season (2-0) with a perfect 0.00 ERA on Saturday afternoon in game one of a doubleheader against Toledo in which the Redhawks won 12-0. The St. John, New Brunswick, Canada native had his second longest outing of the season with 6.0 innings pitched and did not allow a run. He allowed just three hits in the game, and set a. new season-high nine strikeouts, just one shy of his SEMO career-high (10, vs. Butler; 3/12/23). So far this season, Dow has made three starts and has pitched 17.1 innings in 2024. He has allowed just six earned runs on 12 hits and has wins over St. Thomas (2/25) & Toledo (3/2). The lefty has struck out 15 hitters and surrendered just five walks.
 
About Marshall
The Thundering Herd come into the weekend series with a 4-8 overall record having most recently defeated Bellarmine 10-2 in Huntington, W. Va on Wednesday evening. The Herd rattled off eight hits, including five extra-base hits, and two home runs by Owen Ayers & Jay Kehoe. Offensively, Marshall is led by Calin Smith who has a .364 batting average through the first 12 games of 2024. Owen Ayers leads the team in slugging percentage (.638), runs scored (9), and hits (15). Ayers & Jack Firestone are tied with a team-high 10 RBIs. On the mound, Marshall will send Drew Harlow, Bryce Blevins, and Carter Lyles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively, to face the Redhawks. Blevins leads the squad with a 1.17 ERA and 12 strikeouts. Harlow has 10 strikeouts on the season and a 5.56 ERA. Opposing hitters are hitting just .268 & .273 off of Harlow and Blevins, respectively.  
 
Rattle the Bats
Over the weekend, SEMO's offense exploded to the tune of 43 hits as seven Redhawks had four or more hits in the series. Those 43 hits converted into 40 runs in the series overall, and in return 39 were RBIs. The Redhawks finished with a team batting-average of .339 and a .543 slugging-percentage. 
 
At The Top, On The Mound
Through the first 14 games of the season, the Redhawks pitching staff ranks near the top of the Ohio Valley Conference. On the mound, the Redhawks have registered 9.7 strikeouts-per-nine-innings which is the top rank in the OVC. They also currently have a 2.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio which ranks them first in the conference. SEMO pitchers rank first in WHIP (1.44), win-loss percentage (.800), and walks allowed per nine innings (4.15). 
 
Grand Slam Week
Last week, the Redhawks offense registered three grand slams beginning with Bryce Cannon's on Tuesday night against Missouri. Catcher Nolan Ackerman and designated hitter Ty Stauss hit a grand slam a piece in each game Saturday afternoon. For Ackerman, the slam was his first home run in a SEMO uniform.