SE Drops Series Opener with UAM

DURANT, Okla. – For the first time since Feb. 26 Southeastern found itself on the losing end of a conference series opener, falling to No. 25 Arkansas-Monticello 7-3 on Friday afternoon at The Ballpark in Durant.
 
The Savage Storm slip to 24-19 overall on the year and 19-9 in Great American Conference play, with a double-header slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday to conclude the series.
 
Connor Counce collected a pair of hits, while five others had one apiece, with Brandon Grimsley and Logan Terwilliger making the most of theirs with home runs.
 
Grimsley would drive in a pair of runs and Terwilliger would add one RBI.
 
Dylan Linke got the start and turned in his eighth-straight outing of seven or more innings, but suffered his first loss in that span after allowing seven runs on 13 hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
 
Michael Brinska came on to close out the game with 1.1 innings of work while allowing a hit and striking out two.
 
UAM got on the board first on a fluke play with a runner on and two outs as the cleanup hitter hit a pop fly into shallow center, but shortstop Tim Hunter was unable to track it down going out after calling for the ball which allowed a run to score from first on what turned into a double which was followed by an RBI single one batter later for a 2-0 lead.
 
The Storm found an answer quickly though as Kaleb Thomas connected on a one-out single and two batters later got to trot home as Grimsley tied the game with a two-out, two-run homer to right to even the score at 2-2.
 
However, a third inning solo homer by Cody Wood put UAM back in front and they would add to it with another run in the sixth and three more in the eighth to open up a 7-2 lead.
 
Terwilliger would crush a ball over the left field wall in the eighth inning with two outs which would end up setting the final at 7-3.