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Redhawks start strong, but fall to 'Ville in NCAA opener
Friday, June 3, 2022
Southeast Missouri State senior Jevon Mason connects with a pitch against Louisville on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Baseball Regional in Louisville.
Courtesy of Louisville Athletics
Southeast Missouri State put a touch of worry into No. 12-ranked Louisville on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Baseball Regional in Louisville. However, in the end, the Cardinal pitching was too much to overcome, and the hosts won 7-2.
“I thought we were pretty good in terms of our preparation,” Redhawks coach Andy Sawyers said following the loss. “We thought (Louisville pitcher Garrett Schmeltz) threw more of a horizontal breaking ball. He would throw that thing, basically behind left-hand hitters, and move it back on the plate. And we tried to, you know, encourage our guys to swing at the ball that started out off the plate and God bless it, you know, we couldn't do it.”
SEMO (37-21) got off to a great start, as it scored a pair of runs in its initial two at-bats.
Southeast Missouri State hitter Jevon Mason connects with a pitch against Louisville on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Baseball Regional in Louisville.
Courtesy of Louisville Athletics
Redhawk senior Jevon Mason opened the game by reaching on a Louisville error, which was later followed by senior Tyler Wilber being hit by a pitch.
Mason was able to come home on another Cardinal error, which put the No. 4-seed squad ahead 1-0.
Mason contributed again in the second inning, as he doubled home Peyton Leeper, who had singled, for a 2-0 lead.
From that point on, Schmeltz controlled the Redhawk bats.
“He was executing his pitches really well,” Mason said of Schmeltz. “He was demanding the outside of the zone, getting the umpire to call a couple of pitches that, you know we had to fight off and we just couldn't get in the zone. So, I mean, he was executing really well, and he had some stuff on and it's hard to compete in that situation. But I mean, he did a really good job.”
The No. 1-seed Cardinals (39-18-1) got their first run in the second inning off of SEMO starter Jason Rackers, before Rackers struggled with his movement on the mound in the fourth inning.
Rackers was called for three balks in that inning, and by the time that inning ended, Louisville led 3-2.
“I felt like Jason was actually pretty good at that time,” Sawyers said. “Jason is a guy that might have our best composure of anybody on the mound and hasn't balked all year. And so those you know, the three balks were certainly out of character and very unexpected, all three different things.
“It’s an NCAA tournament, everybody's evaluators here and we get balks all over the place that I was a little bit surprised at…”
Rackers worked 4 2/3 innings, as Sawyers purposefully kept him on a short leash following his 122-pitch outing over 9 2/3 innings in the recent Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game.
“Jason gave us a good start,” Sawyers said. “I didn't let him go super deep. I didn't really anticipate him going much longer than five or six innings and had to go get him in the fifth. He was good to keep us in the game. We scored two runs at the top of it and got a lead and we just were not able to extend that and push them back really once they start scoring there in the middle innings.”
Rackers allowed four earned runs and eight hits while walking one and striking out two.
The Cardinals added runs in the fifth, seventh, and two more in the eighth off relievers Anthony Klein and Hunter Ralls.
In all, SEMO used five pitchers.
Ben Palmer led the Redhawks with a pair of hits, while Mason (one run, one RBI, one walk), Andrew Keck (one walk), Ty Stauss (one RBI), and Leeper (one run) each had one hit.
“(The balks) did seem like it kind of sucked the winds out of our sails a little bit and kind of helped help them tack on a few more runs,” Sawyers said. “There's not a game that has been played that any team plays a perfect game. We set a school record for come-from-behind wins this year. We had 26 come from behind wins. We're certainly used to dealing with adversity.”
The Redhawks will play the loser of No. 2-seed Oregon and No. 3-seed Michigan on Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN+).