Although they had only managed two wins in their first 10 games, the Southeastern baseball team got things turned around in a big way last weekend with their first-ever series sweep of Henderson State since joining the Great American Conference.
The Savage Storm utilized a mixture of key hits, solid pitching and tremendous defense, even though they came into the series last in the league defensively.
Southeastern won the opener 9-1 on Saturday and followed with 11-7 and 6-5 triumphs on Sunday to improve their record to 4-2 in conference action with another home series set to begin Friday with Southern Nazarene at Mike Metheny Field.
Coach Alan Trayler’s team rode timely hitting to runs in every frame but the first in the opening matchup. Single tallies in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings built a 4-1 edge before the Savage Storm added multiple tallies in the sixth and eighth stanzas.
Pitching was on target throughout for Southeastern with Daniel Collins yielding one run on three hits in four frames as the starter before Cody Pfeffer came in from the bullpen and blanked the Reddies for four more innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four.
Three of the squad’s 10 hits in the game left the ballpark as Wesley Mitchell, Jake Miller and Austin Thorp each belted a roundtripper. Mitchell and Thorp contributed two hits apiece, as did Payton Poole and Alex Showalter.
The second game of the series proved to be a bit more offensive for both teams as each tallied double digit hit totals.
Southeastern, however, trailed 6-4 heading to the bottom of the eighth when the bats erupted. A walk and Carter Olson single set the table for Chase Keeton, who delivered a three-run homer to claim the first Savage Storm lead of the contest. Brady Evans added a tworun blast just for good measure before the inning was over as the hosts plated seven runs.
Colton Clawson was fabulous in five innings of relief work, yielding one run on three hits while fanning a pair. Southpaw Carson Abbott was the pitcher of record when the Savage Storm grabbed the lead for good and was credited with the win. Brayden Phelps recorded the final out for the save.
Trayler’s club looked like they might run away with the series finale, building a 5-0 advantage after two innings thanks largely to tworun homers from Mitchell and Ryan Kirk.
It was still a 6-0 edge going into the final stanza when Henderson found a spark of its own with a two-run and three-run homer.
Abbott once again came on in relief and earned the save by getting the final two outs, including a strikeout. That made a winner of Brock Zimmer as the righthander notched the mound verdict while scattering five hits and also striking out five.
Southeastern ended with just six hits but made the most of those, including a pair from Thorp. Coby Grimsley and Showalter tossed in one hit apiece.
