Redhawks Complete Sweep over Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 19-0 Blowout

March 18, 2007

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Sunday, March 18, 2007) The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks baseball team was firing on all cylinders on Sunday afternoon at Capaha Field. The Redhawks completed the three-game sweep of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions with their second shutout in three games. Southeast posted 19 runs on 18 hits, and freshman starting pitcher Josh Syberg pitched brilliantly for the first six innings of the game.

Syberg (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney HS) struck out 14 Golden Lions batters in six shutout innings on the mound, coming just three punches shy of tying the school record 17 strikeouts set by John Holdner in 1961. The freshman southpaw struck out the first six hitters that he retired, and he struck out the side in four different innings. Meanwhile, he allowed Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-15) just three hits and two walks. Syberg (3-1) increased his season strikeout total to 35, which leads the team.

While Syberg was mowing down batters from the pitching mound, the Southeast (11-6) offense was relentless at the plate. The Redhawks scored 19 runs on 18, including six doubles and three home runs. Seven Redhawks batters recorded a multiple-hit game, and three batters drove in more than one RBI.

Freshman Nick Harris hit two homers on Sunday, including a grand slam in the seventh inning.

Daryl Graham (Fort Scott, Kan./Cowley County CC) got the ball rolling for the Redhawks in the second inning with an RBI double to left-center field that scored Asif Shah (Cincinnati, Ohio/Cincinnati Country Day HS) from first base. Robby Moore (Rombauer, Mo./Jefferson CC) followed with a single down the right field line to bring Graham across the plate.

Southeast scored four runs in each of the next three innings as they extended their lead to 14. Shah hit a three-run home run in the third inning, and Nick Harris (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson, HS) hit a two-run bomb in the fifth when Southeast sent 10 batters to the plate.

The sixth inning was the only other inning in which the Redhawks did not score a run, but Harris put another four on the scoreboard in the seventh inning with a two-out grand slam.

The Redhawks scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with the help of an error. After reaching base on a walk, Sean Zollner (Sparta, Ill./Sparta HS) advanced to third when Matt Carter (Carlinville, Ill./Carlinville HS) reached second in his first collegiate plate appearance by way of a throwing error by the Golden Lions pitcher. Zollner later scored when Daniel Schuh (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenney HS) drove him in.

A few others also received an unexpected plate appearance or two. Freshman Andrew Wiese (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo HS) was 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored after reaching on an error in his first collegiate plate appearance on Saturday. Pitchers Isaac Stoll (Washington, Ind./Vincennes) and Dustin Renfrow (West Plains, Mo./Jefferson CC) also made a trip to the plate.

Matt Wagner, along with Asif Shah, drove in four RBIs on three hits.

Three more scoreless innings from the Southeast bullpen kept the shutout in tact. Derek Hayden (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville HS), Mike Taylor (McClure, Ill./Shawnee HS) and Sam Rosener (Festus, Mo./Air Force) each threw one inning on the mound. All four Redhawks pitchers combined to strike out a season high 18 batters while giving up just five hits and three walks.

With the combined shutout preserved, the 19-0 win marked the largest margin of victory for Southeast since 2001 when it defeated William Woods by 21 runs on March 21.

Omar Padilla (Point Reyes Station, Calif./Santa Rosa CC) led Southeast with four hits at the plate, including a double and three runs scored.

Meanwhile, Matt Wagner (Wahoo, Neb./Nebraska) and Shah each had three hits and four RBIs. Harris' six RBIs were the most in one game since Eric Horstman accomplished the same feat on May 14, 2005, at Tennessee Tech.

Southeast will try to extend their current four-game winning streak at Central Arkansas on Tuesday and Wednesday with the start time on each day scheduled for 1 p.m.