By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A closely contested contest that saw the Tennessee Tech baseball team have its chances late, but at the end of the day Southeast Missouri inched past the purple and gold with a 5-4 victory Saturday afternoon in the middle game of a three-game set at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.
Deadlocked at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Javon Mason drilled a one-out solo home run that put the Redhawks (20-17, 9-2 OVC) ahead 5-4 with three innings remaining. Despite the setback, the Golden Eagles would go on to rally in each of the next two innings by putting a runner in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth, but were unable to cash in in either frame.
Peyton Mills led off the top of the seventh with his second double of the game and immediately advanced to third on John Dyer ground ball to second, but was ultimately stranded there after Redhawk reliever Gavin Johnston picked up a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat and keep SEMO up a run. An inning later, Tech (10-23, 2-6 OVC) put the first two on behind a Will Long single to left and a Tanner Shiver pinch-hit walk, but Kyle Miller proceeded to set aside the next three Golden Eagles to preserve the one-run advantage. Miller went on to pitch a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year, allowing a two-out Troy Baunsgard single as Tech's lone baserunner in the final frame.
After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning, the Tech offense exploded to the tune of four runs in the second to seize the early edge. A one-out bases loaded walk to Austin Turner pushed Preston Ford across with the tying run, before Hayden Gilliland socked a bases-clearing double to left center that propelled the purple and gold to a 4-1 cushion.
The Tech lead proved to be short lived after SEMO responded with three runs in the bottom of the second to square the score at 4-4. Peyton Leeper led off the inning with a home run to cut the deficit to 4-2, before the Redhawks would go on to knot things up on consecutive two-out RBI doubles by Chance Resetich and Josh Cameron.
In his first starting assignment as a Golden Eagle, Andrew Guardino was saddled with a no-decision behind a season-high five innings of work, allowing four earned runs on eight hits with a pair of walks and a trio of punchouts. In his second relief outing of the year, Peyton Calitri was tagged with the loss, surrendering Mason's go-ahead round tripper as his only blemish in an otherwise clean three innings on the bump. The Collierville, Tenn. product scattered five hits, did not issue a free pass and struck out three.
Despite facing only one batter in relief, Logan Katen picked up his first win of the season after inducing a pop up to end the sixth with runners on first and second. Tech left 11 on base, including eight over the final five innings, stranding a runner in scoring position in four of those frames.
Mills was the only Golden Eagle with a multi-hit affair, going 2-5 with a pair of doubles. Gilliland in the second and Nicho Jordan in the sixth also produced a two-bagger to round out Tech's quartet of extra-base hits. Resetich led Southeast Missouri with a four-hit showing, one of five Redhawks with at least two hits in the contest.
The Golden Eagles will look to salvage a win in the series on Sunday in the finale of the weekend set. First pitch from Capaha Field is slated for 1 p.m. CT.
File photo by Jim Dillon
