SEMO Briefs, March 27: Keck powers Redhawks to another home win

Andrew Keck went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and two RBI, while Ben Palmer homered and added three RBI to lead Southeast Missouri State (17-5, 3-0) to a 5-2 Ohio Valley Conference baseball win over SIU Edwardsville (10-11, 0-3) Sunday at Capaha Field.

The Redhawks won their fourth series sweep of the season and opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a sweep for the first time since 2016.

It also marked the first time SEMO swept its opening weekend of conference play under veteran coach Andy Sawyers.

Tied at two runs apiece, SEMO loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of a single by Keck and walks by Brett Graber and Joel Vaske. After a strikeout, Palmer was hit by a Cougar pitch and Keck scored the go-ahead run.

In the next inning, Tyler Wilber hit a one-out single, and Keck followed with a two-run smash opposite field to right stretching the Redhawks lead to 5-2.

It was Keck's fifth home run of the year.

Palmer had earlier given the Redhawks a 2-1 lead with a home run.

Starting right-hander Tommy Windt gave SEMO a nice start working 3 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He also gave up two runs on six hits before exiting the game in the fourth.

Redhawk relievers Blake Cisneros, Austin Williams, and Kyle Miller combined for 5 1/3 shutout innings.

Williams (3-1) earned the win after working 1 1/3 innings with one strikeout. Miller picked up his second save of the series, as he struck out three in two innings retiring six of the eight hitters he faced.

Wilber (2) and Keck (3) accounted for five of the eight Redhawk hits, while Wilber also scored once.

Palmer added a game-high three RBI, while Graber reached base for the 22nd consecutive game.

SEMO extended its home winning streak to 13 games. It is its longest home winning streak since the 2016 team won 13 in a row.

SEMO will travel to Saint Louis on Tuesday.

Redhawks fall in finale

Southeast Missouri State (14-13, 3-3) dropped its Ohio Valley Conference softball series finale to Tennessee Tech (20-9, 3-3) by a score of 2-0 Sunday.

Trailing 1-0, the Redhawks got singles by Tori Bradley and Kat Sackett along with a two-out walk by Sydney Melton loaded the bases in the fourth inning. However, the Redhawks came up empty after a fly out ended the inning.

In the seventh, Kynzie Wrigley reached on a two-out single and Kaylee Anderson represented the tying run at the plate, but a strikeout silenced the threat.

Marisa Davis (2-3) gave up just one run and walked one in five innings for SEMO.

SEMO finished with six hits, including one each from Wrigley, Anderson, Paige Halliwill, Bradley, Sackett, and Melton.

SEMO will visit Southern Illinois on Wednesday.

Hatfield-Jackson fares well

Luke Hatfield-Jackson won the high jump and long jump as Southeast Missouri State track and field continued its 2022 outdoor season at the Ole Miss Classic Friday and Saturday.

Hatfield-Jackson cleared a high jump height of 6-feet, 9 inches to win the event. He also registered a long jump mark of 24-feet, 11 inches, to win that event.

Logan Blomquist won the hammer throw at his third-straight outdoor competition in 2022.

The senior tallied a distance of 228-feet, 6 inches.

Dylan Clark chipped in a throw of 190-7 for fifth, followed by Marshall Swadley (185-0, eighth).

Lauryn James finished as the runner-up in the long jump, with a leap of 18-10.75, while Serena Williams also competed for the SEMO women, finishing with 16-8.5 (20th).

Nicole Humphreys paced the women in the hammer throw, as she notched a personal-best feat of 193-0 for fourth.

Makenzie Williams (169-10, 11th) and Megan Deimeke (155-10, 13th) also competed.

Justin Breault finished fifth in the javelin with a mark of 182-8, while Josh Kile added a heave of 153-9 (13th).

Josiah Kilgore won the event for the second-straight week as an unattached competitor.

The Poplar Bluff native registered a throw of 210-0.

In the women's javelin, Marysa Flieg, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week, secured a personal-best mark of 160-0 for third.

Jaden Kight added a javelin throw of 142-9 (seventh), while Emma Sexton finished with 118-1 (12th).

In the women's shot put, Humphreys finished with 45-0.5 (14th), while Deimeke added a throw of 41-3.25 (19th) and Williams compiled a mark of 37-11.25 (23rd).

On the men's side, Blomquist tallied a shot put mark of 57-4.75 for fourth, while Swadley was the next highest Redhawk with a throw of 53-6.25 (ninth).

Clark (52-8, 10th) and Alewelt (50-4.5, 18th) also competed.

Dillon Lay paced the Redhawks in the 100-meter dash, crossing the finish in 11.12 (25th), while Brock Wood, Victor Mathuthu (11.35, 31st), and Anthony Forrest (11.59, 35th) also ran.

On the women's side, Sandrea Cogio was the top SEMO student-athlete, completing the race in 12.44 (10th), followed by Leanza Dwaah (12.55, 11th), Daja Gordon (12.68, 14th), Serena Williams (12.83, 16th), and Kaylee Eakin (13.07, 18th).

Kaitlyn McGinnitey finished the 100-meter hurdles in 15.71 (18th) and also cleared a high jump height of 5-1 (15th).

Forrest then concluded the 110-meter men's hurdles in 14.91 for sixth, while Isaac Readnour was clocked at 15.81 (17th).

In the men's 200 meters, Wood crossed the finish in 22.47 (22nd), followed by Lay (22.65, 25th), Colin Schwab (22.84, 28th), Forrest (23.10, 33rd), and Xzavier Bartlett (23.39. 36th).

Dwaah led the Redhawk women in the 200 meters, earning a time of 25.74 (22nd), while Laila Hardin chipped in a mark of 26.11 (26th), Gordon (26.35, 30th), Eakin (26.79, 34th), and Cogio (26.96, 37th) also ran.

Schwab then finished the 400 meters in 50.69 (19th).

In the men's 800 meters, Terrico Garrett grabbed the top SEMO time of 1:53.53 for eighth, while Markeith Crawford (1:56.28, 15th), Justin Splitt (1:56.70, 18th), Byron Sowerby (1:58.45, 22nd), Austin Perkins (1:58.72, 24th), Thomas Doss (2:00.39, 30th), Nick Cimmarusti (2:01.43, 35th), Clayton Eftink (2:02.74, 41st), Noah Little (2:03.35, 42nd) and Bartlett (2:05.30, 48th) also competed.

Claire Morrill took fourth in the women's 800 meters, crossing the finish line in 2:13.87, while Taylor Fox followed in 2:17.51 for fifth, Erika Mellor (2:23.06, 17th), Hannah Eastman (2:25.47, 18th), Hardin (2:26.04, 20th), Brianna Payton (2:27.29, 23rd), Haley Smith (2:28.89, 24th) and Mackenzie Pugh (2:44.91, 29th) also ran.

Splitt led SEMO in the 1,500 meters, finishing in 3:59.74 (12th), followed by Little (4:00.05, 13th) and Cimmarusti (4:06.58, 18th). Seth Gleason was clocked at 4:08.22 (22nd) ahead of Doss (4:08.43, 23rd), Travis Sickles (4:12.66, 28th), and Aaron Modrow (4:26.90, 36th).

Fox finished the women's race in 4:41.66 for ninth overall, while Eastman (4:50.53, 17th), Jane Boessen (4:52.54, 19th), Smith (4:56.79, 23rd), and Payton (5:10.75, 35th) also competed.

Madelyn Gray concluded the 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:43.46 for eighth, while Maddie Keller (7:56.32, ninth) and Pugh (8:08.63, 10th) followed Gray.

Sowerby took eighth in the men's race, finishing with a time of 6:11.46, while Eftink added a mark of 6:27.15 (11th).

Boessen completed the 3,000 meters in 10:37.33 for 10th, while Sarah Russom finished in 11:11.01 (19th).

Gleason led the Redhawk men in the distance, clocking in at 9:03.45 (12th). Sickles followed in 9:09.35 (14th).

Williams registered a discus throw of 46.57m for ninth, while Humphreys added a distance of 43.39m (16th) and Deimeke finished with 38.34m (23rd).

Clay Alewelt led the men's throwers in the discus, as he tossed a mark of 160-0 for ninth and Swadley added a mark of 145-6 (14th).

Readnour finished with a long jump distance of 20-11.25 for 14th, while Mathuthu finished with 20-5 (17th) and Wood added a jump of 20-1.75 (19th).

Nick South propelled himself over a pole vault height of 15-3 for sixth.

The Redhawk women's 4x400 meter relay team of Hardin, Miles, Gray and Morrill finished in 3:59.51 for fourth, while Payton, Gordon, Fox, and Mellor added a time of 4:16.29 (ninth).

The men's 4x400 meter relay squad of Crawford, Garrett, Wood, and Splitt completed the relay in 3:20.75 for fourth, while Lay, DeGraaf, Little, and Doss combined for a time of 3:38.35 (10th).

SEMO will host the Lake Stride Joey Haines Invitational at the Abe Stuber Track Complex in Cape Girardeau on April 1-2.