OXFORD, Ala. – A seven-run third inning powered the Southeast Missouri State RedHawks to an 11-1 win in eight innings over the Northern Illinois University baseball team Sunday night at Choccolocco Park.
 
SEMO (3-3) scored first in the bottom of the first inning. Michael Mugan doubled to right field with one out. Ty Stauss then laced a single to centerfield to drive home Mugan and give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead. Stauss would later steal second, but was left on base as NIU starting pitcher Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) got a lineout and a strikeout to end the inning.
 
NIU (2-4) responded in the top of the second. Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) reached base on a one-out error. Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) then beat out a fielder's choice to avoid a double play. SEMO starting pitcher Haden Dow then hit Ryan Birr (Brownsburg, Ill./SIU) with a pitch to keep the inning alive. Ben Loyd (Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kaskaskia College) then reached on an error by SEMO second baseman Brooks Kettering, whose subsequent throwing error allowed Couchman to score from second base to tie the game 1-1.
 
The RedHawks took back the lead, and control of the game, in the bottom of the third. With a runner at third and one out, Mugan reached on an infield single that scored the run and put SEMO up 2-1. After a Stauss single, Vaisvila struck out Caleb Corbin for the second out of the inning. A Couchman error then allowed Mugan to score from second base and put the RedHawks up 3-1. Vaisvila hit Cole Warehime with a pitch to load the bases with Mikey Rocha driving in two runs with a single to left field. Shea McGahan then reached on an infield single to load the bases again. Andrew Ramirez cleared the bases with a double to give SEMO an 8-1 lead to cap a seven-run inning, of which only two runs were earned.
 
"We were ready and prepared, and SEMO got to some balls and put their swings on and our defense wasn't very good," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "You put those two together and they jumped on us and put the game pretty much out of reach."
 
Dow allowed just one hit in his five innings on the mound, a leadoff single to Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) to start the game. The Huskies did not get their second hit until the top of the seventh on a Kosobucki leadoff double. The RedHawks scored twice in the fifth and scored the game-winning run in the eighth.
 
Vaisvila went three innings allowing eight runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. Six of his eight runs allowed were unearned. Zach Hise (Joliet, Ill./Kentucky) and Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) both had a scoreless inning of relief out of the bullpen.
 
"We've got figure some things out this week and get to work," Copeland said. "I'm ready for the challenge and anxious to have a really good week of practice before we go back on the road. We've had some good at-bats but at the end of the day we've scored one run over the last 17 innings."
 
NIU heads to SIUE next weekend for a four-game series against the Cougars. The series begins on Friday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.
 
--NIU--