Ninth-Inning Rally Comes Up Just Short in Opener

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern clubbed five home runs but it was not enough to pick up the conference win on Friday afternoon, falling to Arkansas-Monticello in the series opener 10-9 at Mike Metheny Field.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 6-6 on the season and 0-4 to open Great American Conference play, with those four league losses coming by a combined total of four runs.
 
SE will be back on the field to complete the series on Saturday with a doubleheader slated to start at noon.
 
Coby Grimsey led the offense with three hits, two homers and a double, while driving in three runs.
 
Reid Rice followed with two hits, while Damon Burroughs, Nick Hill, Cam Wheeler, Yanluis Ortiz, Cameron Cromer, and Dylan Herd each had a hit.
 
IN addition to Grimsleys two homers, Wheeler, Ortiz, and Cromer each added a homer.
 
Ortiz would log three RBI, with Wheeler driving in two and Cromer plating one.
 
Cameron Hauch got the start and tossed five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in a no decision.
 
Brett Tanksley came on in relief and tossed two thirds of an inning, allowing three runs on two hits and earning his first loss of the year.
 
Coby Langford followed with two-thirds of an inning and was tagged for three runs on two hits before Bristol Carson came on and finished the contest with 2.2 innings of work, allowing a run on three hits.
 
UAM would strike first with a run in the top of the second inning, but solo homers by Grimsley and Cromer in the bottom half would put SE in front 2-1.
 
The Boll Weevils would tie the game with a sac fly in the top of the third, but SE would break the tie with RBI from Grimsley and Ortiz in the bottom half to take a 4-2 lead after three.
 
UAM followed with the next eight runs to mount a 10-4 lead, but Southeastern would cut into that with a two-run homer by Ortiz to close the gap to 10-6 in the eighth.
 
A two run Wheeler homer in the bottom of the ninth would edge closer, making the score 10-8, and a second Grimsley solo shot would get the score to 10-9, but that is where the rally would end.