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The 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continues with three scheduled games on Friday.
This season marks the 39th time the event has been held and the first time the event has been held at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. The venue is run by the Oxford Parks & Recreation Department which oversaw the completion of the 370-acre sports complex which includes baseball, soccer, softball and track & field/cross country facilities. The first major event hosted at the complex was the 2016 OVC Softball Championship held in May of this past year; the 2017 OVC Softball Championship was also held at the same site earlier this month. This year also marks an expansion from six to eight teams with a new bracket.
Tickets, which can be purchased in person at the park, will be $10 per day or $25 for an all-session pass (up to 14 total games). There is also an $5 a day rate for college students with ID as well as children 6-12 years old (children 5 and under are free). All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
The entire tournament is being streamed live and free of charge on the OVC Digital Network. The games are available in HD and available on any computer, tablet or smart phone, as well as Roku streaming devices. The games will air live and are immediately available on-demand.
Game 9: #6 Murray State 8, #5 Southeast Missouri 5
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Game 10: #1 Tennessee Tech 8, #2 Morehead State 6
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Game 11: #3 Belmont 5, Murray State 4
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#6 MURRAY STATE 8, #5 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 5
OXFORD, Ala. - Adam Bauer and Jack Hranec brought the power while Austin Dubsky and Chad Gendron provided the pitching as Murray State stayed alive in the OVC Baseball Tournament behind the strength of an 8-5 win over Southeast Missouri Friday in Oxford, Ala.
Hranec, who continues to hit at a blistering pace at the tournament, led the Racers (29-29) at the plate by going 3-for-5 with four RBIs, three runs scored and two more home runs, now giving him five for the tournament and 16 overall on the season. Bauer was 2-for-5 at the plate, also scored twice and had a two-run homer in the game. His fifth long ball of the year.
Chad Gendron picked up the 10-out save in the contest and earned his eighth save of the season as he pitched 3.1 innings of relief and allowed one unearned run off two hits while striking out three batters. Dubsky got the start on the hill and earned his second consecutive win as he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits.
The Racers got the early lead thanks to Hranec’s first inning solo home run that was crushed to right center field. The Redhawks (29-26) however, would score three runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Two of those runs went unearned thanks to a pair of MSU fielding errors.
However, MSU wouldn’t stay down for long as Bauer’s two-run shot tied the game at 3-3. Two batters later, Hranec belted his second homer of the contest and pushed the Racers out in front 5-3, a lead that wouldn’t be relinquished.
In the sixth, SEMO would get a run back to cut the lead to 5-4, but Gendron would come on, get out of the bases-loaded jam and preserve the Racer lead. From there, MSU got a pair of insurance runs in the eighth thanks to a Tyler Lawrence RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Jaron Robinson, making the score 8-4. Hranec’s infield single RBI in the ninth gave the Racers one more run of cushion before SEMO got a late run in the ninth to finish the scoring.
MSU out-hit the Redhawks 10-6 in the victory and also collected four extra-base hits while Southeast Missouri got just one double for extra bases.
#1 TENNESSEE TECH 8, #2 MOREHEAD STATE 6
OXFORD, Ala. - No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech jumped out to a 7-2 lead and held on to top No. 2 seed Morehead State 8-6 in the Winners Bracket Finale on Friday at the OVC Baseball Championship.
With the win Tennessee Tech (39-19) will await an opponent in the Championship Round which begins Saturday at 4 p.m. The Golden Eagles are looking to claim its first OVC Tournament Championship since 2009.
Ryan Flick hit his fourth home run of the tournament in the first inning to give Tech the early 2-0 advantage. The Golden Eagles would go on to add a lone run in the second, and two more runs in each the third and fourth frames.
Morehead State (36-22) chipped away at the lead with two runs in the seventh on a home run by Niko Hulsizer and two more in the ninth on a blast by Will Schneider.
The home run by Hulsizer was his 26th of the season, tying the OVC single-season record held by Morehead State's Cary Page (2002) and Tennessee Tech's A.J. Kirby-Jones (2010).
Jake Usher (5-2) picked up the win on the mound, going 6.2 innings and allowing four runs on six hits.
#3 BELMONT 5, #6 MURRAY STATE 4
OXFORD, Ala. - Trailing by a run with the bases loaded and facing elimination from the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, senior Tyler Walsh (Evansville, Ind.) refused to prematurely end the Bruins season and blasted a walk-off double to deep left field in the bottom of the ninth. Walsh's two-bagger sealed No. 3 Belmont baseball's 5-4 victory over No. 6 Murray State Friday night at Choccolocco Park.
The Bruins (30-28) never say die mentality allowed them to see another day in the tournament as they were in a 4-2 hole heading into the final two frames. Walsh came up clutch on both occasions, stealing a pair of bases, allowing BU to come within one in the eighth before his ninth inning heroics.
A pitcher's duel ensued from opening pitch and lasted much of the game as both pithing staffs only gave up six hits apiece. The Bruins struck first in the opening frame as they were residing on the corners before redshirt-junior Rafael Bournigal (Mulberry, Fla.) made his way home despite Nick Egli (Brentwood, Tenn.) hitting into a double play. The Racers (29-30) evened it up, 1-1, with a single from Tyler Lawrence in the third.
Senior Dom Veltri (Clarksville, Tenn.) earned his second career start and held Murray State's to a lone run through four innings. While giving up the tying run, the righty did so by limiting the damage after the Racers loaded the bases on three consecutive free rides before getting out of the jam.
Murray State took their first lead of the game with a two-run bomb from Lawrence who brought his RBI total to three, but Veltri settled back in and got the next Racer swinging to continue his dominating performance on the hill. The Bruins tried to help the hurler out on the offensive end in the sixth, bringing the squad within one, 3-2, on a sacrifice fly from Egli. Junior Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.) delivered a one-out double – his second hit of the night - and later advanced on a wild pitch to put him in scoring position for Egli. But MSU would quickly strike again to push their advantage back to two runs.
Veltri's day came to a close after 6.1 innings, tying a career-best seven strikeouts and only giving up four runs on five hits. MSU doubled its advantage, 4-2, in the top of the seventh before sophomore Kyle Klotz (Fairview, Tenn.) came in to replace the starter - making his 44th appearance on the hill to tie both the Ohio Valley Conference and Belmont all-time record for appearances in a single season. The reliever tossed and inning and a third before senior Brennan Washington (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) came in and closed out the game on the mound, earning his fourth win of the year.
The Bruins continued to battle in the box as Walsh was issued a walk to lead off the eighth and made his way around to third on a pair of stolen bases, bringing his total to 21 on the season. His skilled base running proved to pay off as Bournigal sent a sacrifice fly to left field to score another run and put BU within striking distance, 4-3.
Walsh worked his magic once again in the final stanza, capitalizing on a couple of free bases dealt to the Bruins after sophomore Hunter Holland (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) sparked their offense with a one-out double.