The home opening set of games for Southeastern’s baseball team did not prove to be kind for the Savage Storm as they dropped a single game in extra innings to Northeastern as well as a weekend series against Arkansas-Fort Smith.
Coach Alan Trayler’s club fell to Northeastern, 10-9, with a trio of losses to the visitors from Arkansas, including a narrow 3-1 setback in the middle game.
Southeastern is slated to be on the road this week to begin Great American Conference action at Ouachita Baptist on Friday and Saturday.
The Savage Storm looked to have an excellent chance against Northeastern, matching the Riverhawks nearly hit for hit but six errors led to three unearned runs for the visitors as Trayler utilized nine different pitchers in the 10-inning affair.
Southeastern was playing from behind most of that outing, erasing a 5-1 fourth inning deficit thanks to a pair of errors and Ryan Kirk tworun homer in the eighth frame that eventually tied things at 6-6.
The team’s then traded solo home runs in the ninth, including Southeastern’s on a Coby Grimsley blast to force extra innings.
Northeastern tallied three runs in the top of the 10th before the Savage Storm answered with Chase Keeton’s two-run homer in their half of the inning but that’s as close as it got.
Kirk ended with three hits along with two apiece by Payton Poole and Gage Dollins to spur the Southeastern offense.
The Savage Storm pounded out 14 hits in game one of the Fort Smith series but could not cool the visitors’ red hot bats in a 19-8 loss.
Brady Evans and Wesley Mitchell each homered as part of their two hits each in the game with Mitchell tallying four RBI. Grimsley and Keeton also notched two hits while Kirk once again led the charge with three hits.
Southeastern got strong pitching from Daniel Collins and Brock Zimmer in the second game of the series, as the duo combined to scatter six hits and strikeout eight, but it was not quite enough.
Poole’s solo home run in the fourth accounted for the Savage Storm’s only run in the game while Fort Smith produced two in the first second and one in the fifth.
The finale saw the visitors break out to a big lead on the way to a 13-6 decision that swept the series.
Southeastern got three first inning runs on a Grimsley three-run homer and another three in the sixth on a Nick Mueller three-run blast.
Dollins and Carter Olson tossed in two hits apiece in leading the Savage Storm.
