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SEMO overcomes adversity again and again (and again) en route to OVC title, NCAA bid
Sunday, May 29, 2022
The Southeast Missouri State baseball squad poses after winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky.
Ohio Valley Conference
The list of obstacles that were placed in front of the Southeast Missouri State baseball squad over the past three days during the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament was a looooong one.
The Redhawks had ample opportunities (plural) to accept their fate and falter in wake of an absurd amount of adversity.
But they didn’t.
SEMO rallied for the fourth time in as many games and beat OVC regular-season champion Belmont 5-4 in 10 innings on Saturday to win the tournament for the second straight season.
“Strange would be a good adjective,” veteran Redhawk coach Andy Sawyers said. “There was a lot of adversity and certain circumstances didn’t go our way. But we stayed in the fight and kept playing.”
The Redhawks opened the postseason on Thursday with starting pitcher Jason Rackers going one inning before a deluge forced a five-plus hour rain delay.
When the game against Tennessee Tech resumed, SEMO went with Tommy Windt on the mound, and he injured his arm after one inning.
SEMO lost that game and had to come back 10 hours later and play an elimination game against SIU Edwardsville, a game in which it trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning before rallying to save its season.
“There is value in staying in the middle emotionally,” Sawyers said. “Don’t get too up or too down.”
The Redhawks rallied again in a late game Friday to beat the Golden Eagles, and after getting back to the hotel near midnight last night, had to be back to Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky. for the title game at noon.
“We just kind of showed up and played,” Sawyers said of his exhausted team.
SEMO used 10 pitchers in its initial two games and had to play another two games in 24 hours. To add to the Redhawks’ arm dilemma, Rackers was so ill on Friday that he didn’t attend the game against SIU Edwardsville but did go to the nightcap just in case Sawyers might need him.
“He said he felt like he could go one or two innings,” Sawyers said of Friday night.
Rackers did better than that on Saturday.
In 14 appearances this season, Rackers didn’t last six innings in eight of those. However, against the Bruins, he worked a stunning 9 2/3 innings – after being sick all day Friday – and put his team in a position for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
“He said (on Saturday morning),” Sawyers explained, “that he felt fine.”
Liar.
Rackers, who earned the OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player award, only allowed two earned runs and walked one, while striking out eight and giving up seven hits.
“What a great lesson for our kids,” Sawyers said. “He was available after what could have been looked at as a negative (missing Thursday’s opportunity). We had our best guy available.”
As custom, SEMO (37-20) put itself in a hole against the Bruins (39-20).
Belmont led 2-1 in the ninth inning when it elected to pitch to SEMO junior Andrew Keck.
Tennessee Tech would have advised the Bruins against doing such.
Keck homered on Friday against the Golden Eagles with the score tied at two to give the Redhawks a 5-2 victory, and he did the same thing to Belmont, as his home run tied Saturday’s game at two.
The Redhawks added three more runs in the 10th inning, as Ben Palmer singled before Jevon Mason crushed a pitch for a 4-2 margin.
Senior Tyler Wilber hit another long shot following Mason’s for a fifth run, which ultimately would be needed, as the Bruins fought back with two runs in the bottom of the 10th.
SEMO reliever Blake Cisneros, who only threw two-plus innings five times this season in 25 appearances, got the final out to seal the win. The junior worked 6 1/3 innings in three days.
“The unsung hero was Blake Cisneros,” Sawyers said. “He went out there with his arm hanging and got the final out.”
Mason (one run, two RBI, one walk) and Peyton Leeper (one RBI) each had two hits against Belmont to lead SEMO, while Wilber (one hit, one run, one RBI), Keck (one hit, two runs, one RBI, two walks), Palmer (one hit, one run), and Danny Sperling (one walk) also contributed.
“We just stayed in the fight and kept going,” Sawyers said. “To say that our kids are resilient is an understatement.
“I’m really proud of them.”
Cheer on the ‘Hawks
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be on Monday at 11 a.m. with a viewing party for the public and SEMO players and coaches at Wings Etc. (3047 William Street, Cape Girardeau).
Top birds
Joining Rackers on the All-OVC Tournament Team were SEMO teammates sophomore first baseman Lincoln Andrews (seven hits, three runs, six RBI), Wilber (seven hits, five runs, five RBI), Keck (four hits, six runs, eight RBI), Mason (eight hits, five runs, four RBI), and Cisneros (6 1/3 innings, two hits allowed, 0 runs allowed, four walks, five strikeouts).