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The 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continued with three games on Thursday
This season marks the 40th time the event has been held and the second-straight year 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.
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 6: #1 Tennessee Tech 5, #4 Jacksonville State 2
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Game 7: #3 Morehead State 18, #2 Southeast Missouri 9
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Game 8: #6 Eastern Kentucky 5, #5 Austin Peay 1
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#1 TENNESSEE TECH 5, #4 JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
OXFORD, Ala. - The Ohio Valley Conference's Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year each played the part for the No. 18 Tennessee Tech baseball team Thursday afternoon, propelling the Golden Eagles (47-7) to a 5-2 victory over Jacksonville State (31-24) on the second day of the league's postseason tournament at Choccolocco Park.
Senior hurler Travis Moths, named the OVC's Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday, tossed was brilliant for the purple and gold, covering seven and one third innings while scattering four hits and a walk. He held the Gamecocks scoreless through the first seven frames before eventually conceding one unearned run following his departure in the eighth inning.
The right-hander struck out eight Jacksonville State batters in the contest, capturing his 13th victory of the year to break the Golden Eagle program's single-season record. He set the career-wins record for the program last week with a win at Morehead State. Moths is now tied for the national lead in wins with Oregon State's Luke Heimlich.
It was the OVC Player of the Year, Kevin Strohschein, providing the damage for nation's top offensive unit in the victory, as the team's designated hitter finished a whopping 4-for-4 with four of the team's five RBI.
In the third, the junior broke a scoreless tie by ripping a single to left field and driving in Alex Junior. He followed that up with the swing of the contest in the fifth.
Catcher Brennon Kaleiwahea led off the frame with a base knock to center field. Collin Harris reached on fielder's choice for the first out of the inning. Jacksonville State starter Derrick Adams then gathered a strike out for the second out. Harris moved to second on a wild pitch with senior Trevor Putzig at the dish.
With a runner on second, Putzig watched the next two offerings miss their mark, bringing Strohschein to the plate with two runners on and two outs.
After watching a pitch, the slugger just missed the next opportunity, fouling one off for a 1-1 count. Strohschein would not miss the next one, launching the ball clear over the fence in right field for a three-run home run and a 4-0 lead. It marked his 17th long ball of the year.
Doubles by John Ham and Nick Osborne in the sixth provided the team's fifth run of the contest and a 5-0 lead for Moths to work with. It would prove plenty.
Junior righty-hander Ethan Roberts completed the final one and two thirds innings of the contest, allowing a walk, two hits and one run. He worked fantastically out of a bases-loaded jam and no outs in the ninth, surrendering just the one run along the way. The Sparta, Tenn. native induced a ground ball to second that Ham turned into a double play by tagging the baserunner headed his way, spinning and firing the ball to first for the second out.
Roberts then needed just four pitches to whiff the final batter of the contest and preserve the victory. It marked the team's 47th win of the year, tying the OVC single-season record held by Western Kentucky (1980) and Austin Peay (2013).
#3 MOREHEAD STATE 18, #2 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 9
OXFORD, Ala. - Scoring the most runs of any team in the OVC Tournament since 2006, Morehead State baseball pounded out a season-best 25 hits in defeating second-seeded Southeast Missouri 18-9 Thursday at Choccolocco Park.
The Eagles improved to 34-23 overall and scored in eight of the nine innings, including multiple tallies in five frames.
Junior shortstop Reid Leonard was 5-for-6, extending his OVC high reached-base streak to 49 games, while senior DH Tyler Niemann and junior right-fielder Jake Hammon both had four hits apiece. Niemann crossed the plate four times and came within a home run of the cycle, while junior catcher Hunter Fain drove in four runs. Junior first baseman Trevor Snyder totaled three hits, and Fain, senior second Braxton Morris and junior center-fielder Connor Pauly all had two hits. Pauly hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and also doubled in the ninth to move his reached-base streak to 22 games and his hitting streak to 11.
Freshman relief pitcher Will Lozinak even got into the hit parade, ripping a leadoff single in the ninth inning before closing the game on the mound too.
The Eagles built a 10-0 lead before starter TJ Satterly even allowed a Redhawk hit in the fifth inning. As it was, Satterly only surrendered two hits in 4.2 innings. Freshman lefty Cory Conway came in with the bases loaded in the seventh and got a strikeout and ground out. He was credited (as the most effective relief pitcher) with the win to improve to 7-3.
Trevor Ezell and Justin Dirden trimmed their team's deficit just a bit with home runs in the ninth inning off Lozinak.
#6 EASTERN KENTUCKY 5, #5 AUSTIN PEAY 1
OXFORD, Ala. - Austin Perry pitched seven shutout innings to lead sixth seeded Eastern Kentucky University past No. 5 seed Austin Peay State University, 5-1, at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday at Choccolocco Park.
The Colonels (29-30) will continue their quest through the elimination bracket on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Eastern’s opponent will not be determined until after the second game on Friday, which begins at 4 p.m.
Perry (5-2), a senior right-hander, stopped the Governors in their tracks. He allowed one run on six hits, walked two and struck out three in seven and two-thirds innings of work. It was his longest outing of the year.
As it turned out, his teammates gave him all the run support he would need in the first two innings. Nick Howie, the second batter of the game, sent a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left center to put Eastern on top 1-0. Daniel McFarland hit a sacrifice fly in the second for a 2-0 lead.
Alex Holderbach’s two-out RBI single to right in the fifth extended the lead to 3-0. Ryland Kerr scored on an error and Will Johnson drove in McFarland with a single to left center in the sixth to put EKU in front 5-0.
Kerr finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Howie went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Aaron Ochsenbein came on with a runner on base and two outs in the bottom of the eighth. He got a strike out to end the threat. He followed by striking out the side in the ninth on his way to earning his 10th save of the season.
Malcolm Tipler want 2-for-4 with a run scored for Austin Peay (30-27).