MARION, Ill. – #2 Southeast Missouri Baseball (33-24) advanced to the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with an 11-5 victory over #4 Southern Indiana (27-31) on Friday afternoon from Mtn. Dew Park.
Second baseman
Brooks Kettering led the Redhawks offensive with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, including his seventh and eighth home run of the season, as SEMO exploded for 11 runs on 13 hits. Kettering also drew two walks in the contest and came around to score three times.
Designated hitter Kenoi Coloma, catcher
Nolan Ackerman, and first baseman
Bryce Cannon all finished with a multi-hit day as well. Coloma finished 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBIs including his third home run of the season.
The Redhawks pitching staff was solid once again beginning with RHP
Payton Lawrence who pitched 4.2 innings, striking out four Screaming Eagles. He allowed four runs on six hits, but the Redhawks never trailed during his outing.
LHP
Ethan Osborne, RHP
Collin Wilma,
Alex Hayes, and
Kyle Miller closed the door combining to allow just one run after the fifth inning. Wilma pitched another perfect inning as he's now retired all 12 batters he's faced in the tournament.
SEMO got out to the first lead of the ball game in the bottom of the second inning with the first of Coloma's four RBIs as he doubled in Cannon for the early 1-0 lead.
An RBI single from left fielder
Ty Stauss brought in the second run of the day for SEMO as his single brought in Kettering to make it 2-0 after the third inning.
USI got on the board in the fourth inning with a two-run home run by Jack Ellis in the fifth inning to tie the game at two.
But the Redhawks responded in the home half immediately with a four-run inning starting with Coloma's home run with one out in the frame.
A walk to Cannon put a runner on as Coloma's third home run went to right field to give SEMO a 4-2 lead.
Catcher
Nolan Ackerman lined a single into center field one batter later to continue the inning and with two outs,
Brooks Kettering roped his seventh home run of the year to right field to give SEMO an 6-2 lead after the fourth inning.
USI's Cameron Boyd hit a home run with one out in the fifth inning to cut the SEMO lead to 6-3, and an RBI double by Tucker Ebest got USI to within a pair of runs after the fifth.
The Redhawks would seal the deal in the seventh inning with a five-run frame after a leadoff single by
Caleb Corbin got the rally going. Coloma's fourth RBI of the day came with a double to left center that would score Corbin from first to make it 7-4.
An RBI triple by center fielder
Ian Riley, his first hit of the day, after a single from Ackerman brought in both Coloma and Ackerman to give the Redhawk two more runs.
Kettering's eighth home run of the year came one batter later, a two-run home run that would score Riley to make it 11-4 Redhawks.
A scoreless eighth, and a run in the ninth for USI was all the game had as the Redhawks all-time career appearances leader
Kyle Miller pitched the final two outs of the game to seal the deal.
#2 Redhawks advanced to the championship game with the win and will await the winner of #3 Morehead State and #4 Southern Indiana. First pitch is slated for Saturday, May 25, at 12 p.m. from Mtn. Dew Park.
