PADUCAH, Ky. – Matt Wagner slugged two home runs to lead Southeast Missouri State to a 6-4 win over Jacksonville State in an elimination game at the OhioValley Conference Baseball Championships on Saturday.Jax State ends the season with a 37-21 overall record, which is the second most wins in JSU’s Division I history. The Gamecocks finished with a 23-4 OVC record to win the regular-season championship.
“When you look back at last night and today, it almost seems like it just wasn’t meant to be,” said JSU head coach Jim Case, who was named the OVC Coach of the Year earlier in the week. “Things that have been happening for us the last month and a half just wasn’t happening for us the last two games.”
Josh Sybert (1-3) scattered seven hits and had four strikeouts in six solid innings on the mound to earn the win for the Redhawks. JSU’s Nick Hetland (3-6) gave up just six hits in 4 1/3 innings on the mound to get stuck with the loss in his final game of his senior campaign.
Wagner drove in five of Southeast’s six runs with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning and then he hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to give the Redhawks a 5-0 lead.
Jax State scored one in the sixth after Daniel Adamson hit a two-out solo home run to cut the lead to 5-1.
The Gamecocks pushed across three more runs in the seventh inning as Spencer Brandes, Clay Whittemore and Brian Piazza each drove in a run to cut the lead to 5-4, but Southeast scored in the home half of the seventh on a RBI single by Nick Harris for the final margin.
Todd Cunningham and Adamson led JSU with two hits each in the game. Whittemore finishes his three-year career with a school record 258 career hits, including 96 hits this season, and a .380 career batting average. Piazza played in 180 games during his career and finishes with 194 career hits and 122 RBI.
Brian Booth finishes his senior season with a perfect 8-0 record on the mound with a 2.47 earned run average to earn OVC All-Conference honors.
In earlier tournament games:
Eastern Illinois 10, JSU 6
Brett Nommensen went 4-for-5, while Zach Skidmore and Jordan Kreke each added three hits to lead Eastern Illinois to a 10-6 win over Jacksonville.
With the loss, it snaps Jacksonville State’s 17-game winning streak and a 15-game winning streak against an Ohio Valley Conference.
EIU’s Brian Morrell (5-1) allowed nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win. JSU’s Jordan Beistline (3-2) gave up nine hits and seven runs in just two innings to get stuck with the loss.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead after scoring two in the first and five in the second inning to build an early 7-0 lead.
Jax State scored two runs in the third inning on a RBI by Steven Leach and Whittemore as the Gamecocks cut the lead to 7-2, but EIU pushed across a run in the third inning to hold an 8-2 advantage.
The Gamecocks then scored two more runs in the fifth inning when Cunningham scored on an error and Leach drove in another run as JSU cut the lead to 8-4, but Eastern Illinois added a run in the home half of the fifth and another in the seventh to build a 10-4 lead.
Andrew Edge hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 10-5 and Piazza singled in another run in the ninth inning for the final margin.
Leach led the Gamecocks after finishing 4-for-5, while Smith had three hits and Cunningham, Whittemore and Piazza each had a pair of hits.
JSU 7, SE Missouri 6
Piazza doubled to right center to drive in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as Jacksonville State rallied for a 7-6 win over Southeast Missouri State in the quarter-final round of the tournament.
Southeast held a 6-4 lead in the top of the ninth inning after Brandes led off the home half with a double to left center. Bert Smith then had a one-out single to center field to cut the lead to 6-5.
Leach then flied out to left field for the second out of the inning, but Whittemore doubled to left field to move Smith to third base. Piazza then hit a 2-0 change up to right center for the game winning hit.
Whittemore and Brandes each finished 3-for-4, while Piazza and Daniel Adamson each added a pair of hits.
