SEMO baseball clinches first series win of season, scores baker’s dozen in victory over Milwaukee

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – The Redhawks cranked out 14 hits and hit three home runs in a 13-7 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday. 

SEMO Head Coach Andy Sawyers said this is the type of offensive performance his team is capable of on a more consistent basis. 

“We just stayed with it, and played better baseball, played better team offense, and obviously you’re happy when you win a series, but I’m more happy with the progress we’ve made offensively because we were a pretty good offensive team today, and I thought it was one of our better efforts of the year,” he said.

Catcher Ty Stauss, who went 3-for-5 with a home run and a pair of RBI, said despite their power display on Sunday, the Redhawks shouldn’t necessarily rely on the home run ball. 

“I think that’s what our offense needs to be a hit-after-hit, not necessarily a big fly ball, a big home run type of offense, and when we do come together like that, we’ve got nine guys, and even more guys on the bench, who can back it up and win,” he said.

And along with all the offensive fireworks, Logan Katen shut the door on a Panthers comeback with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to close the game. 

He said the Redhawks have started to turn a corner. 

“Being at Capaha, we’ve got a great park, and we wanted to come back here and put on a show for our great fans,” he said. “We knew we have the team to do it. We’ve just got to put the pieces together and they’re starting to fall in the right place, so I think we’re going to take it on from here on out and be good.” 

And after starting 2-8 before now winning two games in a row, Sawyers is not all that concerned with the outlook of this team. 

“Our objective is to win a championship, not to win February, so let’s just keep building towards championship-level play.”