April 7, 2005

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Wednesday, April 06, 2005) For the second consecutive night, the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks prevailed in a 10-inning contest. Ernie Bracamonte's two homeruns and five RBIs led the way to a win over the University of Missouri, which came into today's game ranked nineteenth in the nation. The second of Bracamonte's two homeruns came in the bottom half of the tenth inning to end the game.

After Bo Jenkins led off the bottom of the tenth with a single to left, he advanced to second when Brady Noll reached base after Tiger (23-6) pitcher Taylor Parker made an error attempting to field his sacrifice bunt. Following a strikeout of Eric Horstman, right-hander Travis Wendte was called in from the bullpen to face Bracamonte for a righty-righty match-up. The All-OVC shortstop would have nothing of the match-up though, as he drilled a fastball into the night sky and beyond the wall in left field. The blast, Bracamonte's fifth of the season, plated three to put the Redhawks on top, 8-5.

Southeast (11-16) scored the first two runs of the ballgame early in the bottom of the first. Horstman grounded out to the first baseman to lead the game off, but then Bracamonte, who was 4-for-6 in the game, doubled to left center. Frank Montiel followed with a single to the shortstop. Freddy Lopez earned an RBI, driving in Bracamonte with a double to right center, and Montiel was able to score on an error.

The Redhawks tallied up another run in the second. Catcher Brady Noll led off with a single to left center, and moved over to second on Horstman's sacrifice bunt. Following a pop out to first by Bracamonte, Montiel picked up his second of four hits with a double to left field that drove Noll in from second.

Mizzou scored their first run in the top of the third as Southeast freshman starter Casey Johnson walked in a run after the Tigers loaded the bases. They rallied back with three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. After Zane Taylor and Gary Arndt reached base, leadoff man Trevor Helms hit a two-run double to left center. Jamie McAlister came on in relief following the double, and surrendered an RBI single to pinch hitter Derek Chambers.

The Tigers' lead did not last long, however, as SEMO answered quickly with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Horstman reached base on a walk with one out, and was followed by Bracamonte at the plate. Bracamonte blasted the pitch delivered by MU reliever Dustin Braud onto the hill beyond the left field wall for his first of two home runs.

After two scoreless innings, Missouri tied the game up in the seventh with a run scored on a sacrifice fly. The game remained knotted at five runs a piece beyond regulation, thanks in large part to an outfield assist delivered from Montiel in the eighth inning that gunned down a runner at home.

Then in the bottom of the tenth, Bracamonte delivered his second homerun of the game for the victory. With his 4-for-6 day at the plate, Bracamonte extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Eric Horstman's hitting streak ended tonight after 18 straight games with a base hit. Horstman went 0-for-4 at the plate, but he did score a run after drawing a walk in the fourth. He also added his team-leading sixth sacrifice bunt.

Frank Montiel went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, scoring one run and driving in another. He continues to lead the team with a .357 average, doubles (10), RBIs (24), and slugging percentage (.510).

James Clayton and Brady Noll each added two hits to the Redhawks' game total of 16, going 2-for-3 and 2-for-4 respectively.

Joey Evans picked up his team leading fourth win, earning tonight's decision.

A season-high crowd was in attendance for the win over national ranked Mizzou, and 2,732 came out to watch the evening baseball game.

Southeast will embark on an 8-game road trip, beginning with a tour of Birmingham, AL this weekend to play conference foe Samford. The Redhawks and Bulldogs will face off in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., and will complete the series with a game on Sunday afternoon also at 1 p.m. The games can be heard live on 1220 KGIR.

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