The Southeastern Blackhawks baseball squad set off for Mississippi for the second time on the young season looking to build off their 11-1 start to the season. After weather forced a bit of a schedule change, the Blackhawks played the Indians of Itawamba Community College in a Saturday doubleheader in Tupelo, MS before travelling to Cleveland, MS for two more games against Mississippi Delta on Sunday. Although the Blackhawks didn't play their best baseball over the weekend, they found a way to split both doubleheaders and run their season record to 13-3.
The weekend off to a good start against ninth ranked Itawamba thanks in large part to the bat of shortstop Carlos Medina and the left arm of Chase Keeney who propelled SCC to a 8-5 victory. Medina had a monster weekend earning ICCAC player of the week honors after going 7-15 with two homeruns, two double and an astounding 14 runs batted in for the weekend. For the game, Medina went 2-4 with a pair of RBI's. The Blackhawks had 13 hits in the contest with Carlos Pinyero, Lincoln Riley, Oscar Sanabria, and Britt Noel joining Medina with two hits apiece. Keeney moved his season record to 2-0 in four starts, allowing four runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of work. SCC took a 5-1 lead into the fifth with Keeney cruising along with two outs and nobody on, but a two-out walk was followed by a double for Ben Fryar to put runners on second and third with two away. The next Indians' batter, Lane Domino, hit his second home run of the day to cut the lead to 5-4, ending the day for Keeney. Braden Houston came on in relief to record the final out of the fifth on a groundout to third baseman Oliver Regalado. Houston surrendered just one run unearned run in one inning of work before giving way to closer Kyle Amendt who pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings to earn his fourth save of the season in the 7-inning contest. Amendt struck out three of the four batters he faced.
In game two, walks (four) and errors (three) were a theme as the Blackhawks dropped a close one to the Indians 8-7. SCC took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the third inning after Medina hit a grand slam over the left field fence and Regalado made it back-to-back jacks with a solo shot. Jack Haufle would later single home Aruro Disla to make it 5-0. However, starter Logan Agan, who had largely dominated to that point striking out three of the first seven batters he faced, surrendered four runs in the bottom half of the inning, ending his day after just 2 1/3 innings. Jon Cross came on in relief and recorded the final two outs of the inning to keep things knotted at five. In the top of the fourth, Medina went back to work, blasting a two-run triple off the wall in left center that scored Pinyero and Riley to give the Blackhawks a 7-5 advantage. Cross, who allowed no runs on just one hit in 1 2/3 innings of work, tossed a scoreless fourth inning to keep the margin at two. The Indians tacked on one run in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff walk by Jacob Bockenstedt came around to score from third on a groundout to third base that followed up an error by second baseman Oscar Sanabria. Josh Hoffman recorded the final two outs of the inning to strand a pair of Indians on base and keep SCC ahead by one. After walking the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth and a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowed Itawamba to tie the game at seven, Hoffman's day was done. He went 2/3 of an inning allowing a pair of runs without surrendering a hit to take the loss. Allen Hall, one of the two runners Hoffman left on base before giving way to Kyle Amendt, came across to score on a sac fly from Fyar off of Amendt to give the Indians an 8-7 lead. Amendt would end the scoring there by inducing an inning-ending double play off the bat of Connor Gardner. Sanabria would lead off the top of the seventh with a single to put the tying run on base, but pinch runner Nico Vite was thrown out trying to take third on a pitch in the dirt to end the game three batters later.
The following day, the Blackhawks travelled three hours north to Cleveland, MS to take on Mississippi Delta at Delta State College in a Sunday doubleheader. In game one, the Blackhawks defensive woes continued as four errors played a huge role in the 5-2 loss to the Trojans. Ky Hampton took his first loss of the season, going 5 2/3 surrendering five runs (one earned) on seven hits. SCC once again took a lead into the bottom of the third, this time 2-1, before defensive miscues allowed four Trojan runs to come across giving them a 5-2 lead they would never relinquish. Reece Wissinger came on to record the final out of the sixth on just three pitches, but Delta starter Chase Morgan kept the Southeastern bats at bay all day allowing just two runs while scattering seven hits over six full innings of work to earn the victory. Pinyero had a solid day at the plate in a losing effort tallying three of SCC's seven hits, going three for four in the game.
In the final game of the weekend, The Blackhawk's offense exploded scoring 21 runs on 18 hits in the 21-9 victory. Austin Simpson and Medina led the way at the plate. Simpson, went three for four on the day, including a three run blast in the fifth, and Medina racked up five RBI's in a two-for-four performance, including his second homerun of the weekend, this one a three-run shot. Kyle Lehman added a three-for-four day of his own, while Pinyero, Riley, Disla, and Regalado had two hits apiece. Reliever Braden Houston, who came on in relief of start Lucas Bixby after two plus innings of work, earned his first victory of the season in two innings of work. Both Houston and Bixby allowed three earned runs on the day. Wissinger, Cross, Amendt and Boecker combined to pitch the final three innings. Wissinger gave up three runs without recording an out to give the Trojans 9 runs for the game, before Cross (1/3), Amendt (1 2/3) and Boecker (1) finished things off without allowing another run.
Up next is a big challenge for the 13-3 Blackhawks, as they take on the defending National Champions Northern Oklahoma Enid in a three game weekend set in Enid, OK at the site of the Division II World Series each May. SCC will then travel to Chanute, KS to take on Neosho CC in a single game on Monday before returning home for their first home series of the season when they take on Northeast Nebraska CC with a four-game-set starting with a Saturday doubleheader on March 21st.
