Winning streak are bound to end at one point another.

However, bouncing back with the right mentality -- and the opportunity to rip off another winning streak in doing so -- is what matters.

Through four-and-a-half innings of work, the baseball program at Shawnee State matched IU-Southeast at every stop in a tight battle between the No. 3-seeded Bears and the No. 2-seeded Grenadiers. However, six runs by IU-Southeast -- two each in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings of play -- proved to stymie SSU as the Bears fell by a 7-3 margin Friday evening at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.

Throughout the opening portion of the contest, Shawnee State starting pitcher Eric Oakes showed why he was a First Team All-RSC recipient as the senior retired the IU-Southeast side in order and then worked out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning.

Even after giving up a fourth-inning homer to Indiana-Southeast's Kody Putnam, Oakes put SSU in a position where the Bears trailed by a scant 1-0 margin after four innings of play. The Shawnee State offense, who had opportunities to capitalize themselves over the first four innings of play but left five runners on over those first four frames, got a one-out RBI single from dependable Shawnee State first baseman Noah Sniadach to tie the score at one run apiece.

However, Indiana-Southeast responded back with a flurry.

In the fifth, sixth and seventh frames, the Grenadiers scored three of its six runs with two out on the board, notching four extra base hits and scoring on a wild pitch in those three frames to give IU-Southeast a 7-1 advantage.

Shawnee State came back with a strong ninth frame to make things dicey for Indiana-Southeast, as a leadoff walk by Tyler Lund, a wild pitch and a second wild pitch on a walk to Noah Rezner led to an RBI double by Nolan Tressler that scored Lund.

Down 7-2, Zach Gaspar then came up to the plate after a walk drawn by Oakes and shot a ball to left field, which scored Rezner. However, the trailing runner that was sent home, Tressler, was gunned down to end the game at home plate, allowing IU-Southeast to collect the 7-3 triumph.

Despite Friday's loss, Shawnee State still has a window of opportunity to get to Sunday -- as the Bears play No. 6-seeded West Virginia Tech, whom SSU defeated 16-6 in eight innings Thursday morning, again Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at VA Memorial Stadium in a go-or-go-home affair. The winner then meets up with Indiana-Southeast later that afternoon at 4 p.m., where either the Bears or the Golden Bears can force IU-Southeast into a must-win situation itself on Sunday with a win Saturday afternoon.

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