SE Baseball Soars Past Riverhawks

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Coming off a conference-series victory Southeastern kept the bats moving in a non-conference road matchup against Northeastern State where the Savage Storm put up multiple runs in five of the seven innings played en route to a 16-6 run-rule victory on Tuesday in Tahlequah, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 7-7 overall heading back into conference play March 1-2 in a three-game road series against Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark.
 
Seven different players recorded hits for SE, led by a three-hit performance by Davis Jenks who had a double, while Slayde Ortiz, Luke Thomas, and Caleb Dubler each tallied two hits.
 
Chris Eusay added a hit, a home run, while Joseph Cerda turned in a single hit, a triple. Drew Bolin rounded out the one-hit wonders with a double.
 
Eusay and Ortiz each drove in three runs to power the offense, while Jenks and Bolin chipped in a pair of RBI each.  Cerda, Thomas, and Dubler each drove in one.
 
Collin Jameson got the start and took a no decision after allowing four runs, three of them earned, on no hits with three strikeouts over 2.2 innings pitched.
 
Hunter Capps came on in relief and recorded his first win after allowing a run on two hits in 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.
 
Jordan Compton added an inning of work and was tagged for a run on two hits with one strikeout, while Kenneth Klier closed out the contest with two innings pitched, allowing one run and striking out five.
 
Cerda tripled as the second batter of the game and scored on a Jenks single two batters later to get on the board and was followed home by Austin Ferguson on a Bolin sac fly and then by Jenks who stole home on a double steal for a 3-0 lead.
 
NSU would trim it to 3-1 in the bottom of the first, but SE got back to work in the second inning as Cerda sac flied home Dubler before an Ortiz single plated Ferguson to push the edge to 5-1.
 
The Riverhawks exploded for four runs on just one hit in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 5-5
 
SE would regain the advantage in the top of the fourth on a Bolin double which scored Ferguson and was followed by Jenks scoring on a passed ball to take a 7-5 lead.
 
The Storm stretched its lead in the fifth as a Ferguson fielder's choice would score Dubler and a Jenks double would plate Cerda for a 9-5 lead.
 
That grew to 11-5 a batter later when Ortiz singled to right to score Jenks and Ferguson.
 
A Thomas RBI single and a Dubler sac fly would tack on two more runs in the inning and mount a 13-5 lead midway through the fifth inning.
 
NSU would get one run back in the bottom of the fifth to close to 13-6, but Eusay's three-run homer in the top of the seventh would push the Storm ahead 16-6 which triggered the run rule after holding NSU scoreless in the bottom of the seventh.