SE Forces Extra Innings and Wins Series Opener at UAM

MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southeastern's season-opener was a see-saw that saw the Savage Storm rally to take a lead, only to see that lead disappear before sending the game to extra innings where a Reid Rice homer provided the difference in an 8-7 win over Arkansas-Monticello on Friday afternoon in Monticello, Ark.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 9-5 on the season overall and 6-4 in Great American Conference play with the final two games of the series slated for a 1 p.m. twinbill on Saturday in Monticello, Ark.
 
Rice and Slayde Ortiz each had a pair of hits, while Seth Morrow, Rylee Holmes, Blake McQuain, and Dylan Herd each added a hit.
 
Rice, Ortiz, Morrow, and McQuain each homered in the contest.
 
Morrow finished with three RBI on a three-run homer, while Ortiz had two RBI on his shot. Rice and McQuain each had one RBI on solo shots, while Herd added an RBI as well.
 
Jacob Potter got the start and finished with a no decision after allowing four runs on eight hits over 7.0 innings with two strikeouts.
 
Jacob Bigham would come on in the eighth inning and was tagged for three runs on two hits while walking two.
 
Logan Teske tossed 1.0 inning and allowed a hit and a walks before Kenneth Klier came on to toss the final 1.2 innings, earning the win, after striking out three of the five batters he faced.
 
SE fell behind in the bottom of the second as UAM used a pair of run-scoring doubles to run out to a 4-0 lead.
 
Ortiz would cut that lead in half with one swing of the bat in the top of the fourth on a two-out, two-run homer.
 
Herd would chip away once more run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single to score Ortiz and close to 4-3.
 
In the top of the eighth inning Matt Miles and Richard Ware would draw back-to-back walks to lead off the inning and set the stage for a three-run Morrow homer to give SE its first lead at 6-4.
 
It would be short lived though as UAM answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run homer to tie the game and after loading the bases would take the 7-6 lead on a hit by pitch.
 
The Storm found its answer in a leadoff, pinch-hit home runs by McQuain which knotted the game at 7-7.
 
The Weevils would push runners to second and third with one out, but Klier would come on to retire the final two outs of the inning and send the game to the 10^th.
 
Rice would then tack on his own solo shot to give Southeastern an 8-7 lead, and Klier would protect it in the bottom half, striking out the first two hitters before coaxing a fly out to centerfield to end the game in an 8-7 win.