CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- It was Southeast Missouri State that struck last in a back-and-forth game Wednesday afternoon at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Mo., taking a 12-11 win from the Missouri State baseball team (4-7) with a walk-off single from Michael Adamson.
If not for Adamson, the Redhawks (5-7) would have won by a comfortable 11-7 margin, but the outfielder/closer gave up a grand slam to
Aaron Conway with two-out in the ninth that brought the Bears back from a five-run deficit to force the bottom of the ninth.
Adamson’s winning hit came after SEMO opened the ninth with a single and a walk. Shortstop
Travis McComack snuck in behind Tim Rupp at second on an apparent pickoff play, leaving Adamson a hole at shortstop to knock the game-winning single on a ball that otherwise would have been a routine double play.
Southeast Missouri State scored seven runs in a wild seventh inning to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 10-5 lead for the home team. The Redhawks opened the big seventh by reaching on an error and an infield single before a fly ball put runners on the corners with one out. Ky Burgess and Kody Campbell tied the game at 5-5 with back-to-back singles, and another SEMO single loaded the bases and brought
Blake Barber in from the bullpen to relieve
Grant Gordon.
SEMO right fielder Louie Haseltine pulled the first pitch he saw into left for a single, where
Trevor Rogers made an error trying to scoop and throw home, giving the Redhawks an 8-5 lead. Blake Slattery and Kenton Parmley added RBI hits to cap the seven-run frame.
Southeast scored a run in the first and held the 1-0 lead until
Luke Voit’s two-run double in the fourth gave MSU a 2-1 lead. The Bears used back-to-back two-out doubles from Conway and
Kevin Medrano in the fifth to make the score 3-1, but Adamson belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth for a 3-3 tie.
Voit struck again in the sixth, launching a tape-measure homer to center that Rogers after a leadoff double and gave MSU a 5-3 lead before the game turned south for the Bears an inning later.
Travis McComack drove in
Zak Swyhart with a sacrifice fly as the first out of the eighth and the Bears had runners on the corners with one out following Conway’s bunt single. Medrano plated Beau Stoker with a ground out to second to get the Bears within 10-7 entering the bottom of the eighth.
The Redhawks got a run in the eighth when
Tyler Ryun lost McComack’s throw across the diamond in the sun on what would have been the third out of the inning, making it an 11-7 game after eight frames.
The Bears return to action Friday with a 6:30 p.m. contest at Southern Mississippi.
