April 15, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - (Sunday, April 15, 2007) Southeast Missouri State baseball split a doubleheader at Samford on Sunday. The Redhawks won the first game 9-0, the second shutout victory in as many games. However, the Samford Bulldogs won the second game 2-1 in 11 innings.

Southeast claimed an early lead in game one, always important in seven-inning contests. After loading the bases with no body out in the first inning, senior Asif Shah (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wabash Valley CC), who also started on the mound, helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly to left field. The Redhawks could not muster any extra offense with one out, as Samford starter Eric Lassiter forced an inning-ending double play.

One run was all Shah needed, as he pitched his second complete game shutout with seven scoreless innings on the mound. Renfrow threw a complete game shutout Saturday, and the shutout in game one Sunday marked the first back-to-back shutout wins for Southeast since they held Murray State scoreless in all three games of a weekend series in 2006.

It appeared for a moment that one run is all the Redhawks would score. Lassiter quieted Southeast over the next three innings, allowing just one runner to reach base until the fourth inning.

In the fourth, the Redhawks added four insurance runs, all with two outs. Senior Omar Padilla (Point Reyes Station, Calif./Santa Rosa CC) and freshman Jim Klocke (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney HS) each knocked RBI singles. Alabama native Nick Harris (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson), whose hometown is just 20 miles from Birmingham, capped off the frame with a two-run triple off the wall in left center field.

Senior Daryl Graham (Fort Scott, Kan./Cowley County CC) and Padilla each added a two-run bomb to left in the top of the sixth inning to put the Redhawks comfortably ahead 9-0. Both home runs came against Samford reliever Clint Jones who exited after Padilla's blast; he left the game after allowing four runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning pitched.

Samford was able to close the book on the sixth inning, but without two more pitchers. Lefthander Tripp Swann hit all three batters he faced after coming in for Jones, loading the bases and forcing head coach Casey Dunn to turn to yet another reliever. Daniel Payne was able to record the last out of inning, a ground out right back to the mound.

However, Shah ultimately closed the book on the Bulldogs. The senior southpaw gave up just three hits to Samford in seven complete innings; he struck out five batters and walked six. He also picked up his team-high fifth win of the season, and lowered his ERA to 2.26.

Padilla was 2-for-3 in the first game with a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored. Klocke, Graham and senior Robby Moore (Rombauer, Mo./Jefferson CC) each added a pair of hits in game one.

In the second game of the twinbill, freshman starter Josh Syberg (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney HS) was unhittable for the first three innings of the game.

In the fourth inning, Bear Bryant recorded the first hit of the game against Syberg with a leadoff single. He advanced to second on a balk and advanced to third on a fly out to right field. Garrett Rice drove Bryant across the plate for the first run of the game with a two-out single in left field.

For Samford, starter Chandler Tidwell did not allow a run through six innings on the mound. He did not allow a Redhawks runner to reach scoring position until the top of the sixth when Southeast had a runner on first and second with one out. The right-hander Tidwell, against the top two run producers in the Southeast lineup in Shah and Matt Wagner (Wahoo, Neb./Nebraska), ended the threat with a strikeout and a groundout.

Tidwell started the seventh inning, but after Graham and pinch-hitter Brent Lawson (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) hit back-to-back singles, closer Joseph Edens entered the game. Edens entered the game leading the OVC with eight saves.

Moore, the first batter Edens faced, drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with one out for Padilla. Padilla struck out swinging for the second out of the inning, but a passed ball by catcher Luke Peavy allowed Graham to score the tying run from third base.

Syberg sent the game into extra-innings, retiring the side in the order in the bottom of the seventh inning. He stayed on for the beginning of the eighth inning and did not exit until one out in the frame. The freshman southpaw allowed just one run on four hits in seven and one-third innings pitch; he also struck out three batters.

Senior Josh Parham (Jackson, Mo./Fort Scott CC) finished he eighth inning and worked out of a one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth.

Parham, after he hit John Morgan to lead off the tenth inning, gave way to junior Ivan Nails (Horn Lake, Miss./Southwest Tenn. CC) who ended the inning.

The Bulldogs had the game-winning run in scoring position in the ninth and tenth innings, and with the bases loaded in the eleventh, Morgan put an end to the doubleheader. His check-swing single that dropped into shallow left field allowed pinch-runner Joseph Ballew to score the winning run.

Nails (2-2) got the loss in game two, while Samford reliever Doug Denton (2-1) got the victory.

Klocke was 3-for-4 in game two of the doubleheader. He finished the doubleheader with five hits in total.

The Redhawks will continue a seven-game road trip with a game Wednesday at Southern Illinois.