The Missouri State baseball team struggled at the plate all evening and tallied a season-low two runs in a 6-2 loss to Southeast Missouri State Tuesday at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Redhawks (9-7) only out-hit Missouri State (14-6) by a 10-7 margin, but the long ball was the difference, with SEMO slugging three over the fence to account for five of its six runs.

Southeast Missouri State got a solo shot from Matt Wagner in the second, the first of two runs that inning, a three-run blast from Matt Wulfers in the fourth and another solo homer from Tyrell Cummings in the eighth.

The first five SEMO runs were scored off freshman J.C. Casey (0-1), who took the loss after 3.1 innings. Freshman Cody Aycock entered the game with one out in the fourth and did his best to keep the Bears within striking distance, allowing two hits and a run over 3.2 innings, but his SEMO counterpart Jake Kemper was equal to the task, allowing one hit to the Bears and fanning six in four innings of work for the save.

Missouri State’s offense came in the fifth when Nolan Keane drew a bases-loaded walk and Aaron Conway knocked in a second run with a sacrifice fly.

The Bears left nine men on base, including two in a bizarre seventh-inning sequence that was MSU’s best scoring opportunity late in the game.

Chris Playter hit a one-out single and Ben Woodbury walked before Keane slapped a grounder to the shortstop. Playter held up running from second on the play before getting past Nick Harris and cruising into third base after that bag had been vacated by the SEMO defender who was also trying to play the grounder. Harris then threw the ball to second to try and force Woodbury, who appeared to be standing on the bag when the throw arrived but was instead ruled out, leaving MSU with runners on the corners and two outs before a popup ended the inning.

The second and final game of the series is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday.