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The 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continued with four games on Wednesday.
This season marks the 41st time the event has been held and first time it has been held at Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois. The venue is the home of the Southern Illinois Miners, a professional baseball team playing in the Frontier League. The park, which opened in 2007 and has a Sportexe Turf synthetic surface, features 3,400 chairback seats and lawn seating for over 2,000. The venue, located direct off Interstate 57, includes a brand-new high-definition LED video board, 14 suites, a banquet facility, an entertainment plaza, kids’ play area and a 10-hole miniature golf course. The stadium is located directly off Interstate 57.
Tickets, which can be purchased in person at the park or
via this link, 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. All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
Fans can watch the entire 2019 OVC Baseball Tournament live on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year). ESPN+ is an integrated part of the completely redesigned ESPN App and also available on the web, iPhone, iPad, tvOS, Android Handset, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast and FireTV. More information can be found at
www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.
Game 2: #4 Belmont 8, #5 Murray State 1
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Game 3: #6 Eastern Kentucky 4, #3 Morehead State 1
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Game 4: #2 Austin Peay 12, #8 UT Martin 2
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Game 5: #5 Murray State 9, #8 UT Martin 4
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#4 BELMONT 8, #5 MURRAY STATE 1
MARION, Ill. - A spectacular complete game performance by senior Casey Queener and solid offense propelled #4 Belmont University Baseball to an 8-1 victory over #5 Murray State in game two of the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament.
Queener settled in early, retiring the Racers in order in the top of the first and stranded a Murray State runner at third base in the top of the second with a strikeout.
The deadlock finally broke in the top of the third. Murray State strung together a couple of base hits to take a 1-0 lead after three complete.
Down a run, senior Hunter Holland single-handedly got Belmont going offensively when he smoked the first home run of the OVC tournament to left field to tie the game 1-1. BU's bats continued to be hot, with back-to-back base hits from freshmen John Behrends and Grayson Taylor, putting runners on first and third with no outs. BU took the lead after consecutive RBI groundouts gave Belmont a 3-1 lead.
The Bruins blew things open in the bottom of the fifth. A one-out double from junior Chandler Adkins started the rally. After a base hit from senior Devon Gardner and a walk, BU loaded the bases. Taylor kept his bat hot when he singled up the middle to score two more runs. Sophomore Jackson Campbell drove in the final run of the inning with his single to left field for a 7-1 BU lead after five complete.
In the fifth inning, Queener broke the Belmont record for career strikeouts with his 288thof his career, keeping Murray state off the board in the inning.
Continuing the momentum, Belmont scored again in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-1 lead. A leadoff double from Hadden and a sacrifice bunt set up the potential sacrifice fly. Holland did his job and delivered the fly ball to right field to plate the only run of the inning.
Queener continued to deal from the mound, breaking yet another career record. He headed to the hill for the ninth inning needing one more strikeout to break the single season record. Queener got that strikeout for the final out of the game and his 119thof the season.
Belmont will play again in the winner's bracket Thursday, May 23 at 11:00 a.m. CT. The Bruins will face #1 Jacksonville State.
#6 EASTERN KENTUCKY 4, #3 MOREHEAD STATE 1
MARION, Ill. - Will Johnson tied the game with a home run in the eighth and Logan Thomason put Eastern Kentucky in front for good with a home run in the top of the ninth of a 4-1 victory over No. 3 seed Morehead State at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Rent One Park.
The No. 6 seed Colonels will face No. 2 seed Austin Peay or No. 8 seed UT Martin on Thursday.
EKU trailed 1-0 when Johnson led off the eighth inning. He sent a 2-2 pitch deep over the wall in left field to tie the game. Morehead State (37-20) starter Dalton Stambaugh retired the next three batters to end the inning.
With one out in the top of the ninth, the Colonels (31-25) got to Stambaugh again. This time Thomason, a freshman from Richmond, Kentucky, sent the second pitch he saw down the left field line to put Eastern Kentucky in front 2-1.
After Stambaugh was pulled, Charles Ludwick was hit by a pitch and Michael Brewer singled to right center. With runners and second and third and two outs, Johnson gave EKU some insurance runs. He ripped a double into the gap in left center to make it a three-run game, 4-1.
Aaron Ochsenbein came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth. He retired the first two batters on a fly ball and a strikeout, but the next two reached base to bring the tying run to the plate. With a 2-2 count, Ochsenbein got Hunter Fain looking to end the game.
Redshirt freshman Will Brian started for Eastern Kentucky, just his fifth start of the season. After giving up a single to start the bottom of the first inning, Brian didn't allow a hit to any of the next 18 batters he faced, scatting four walks over that span. He finished the day with three hits, one run and five walks allowed over six innings. The Brandenburg, Kentucky native struck out two.
Jacob Abbot (2-0) came in to pitch with a runner on and no outs in the bottom of the seventh. He retired the next three batters and earned the win after tossing two innings of scoreless relief. He gave up two hits and struck out two.
Stambaugh (7-4) allowed two runs on five hits in eight and one-third innings for the Eagles. He walked two and struck out nine.
Johnson finished the game 3-for-4 with a walk, a run and three RBIs. Thomason was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Stephen Hill went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI for Morehead State.
#2 AUSTIN PEAY 12, #8 UT MARTIN 2
MARION, Ill. - Left fielder Aaron Campbell hit two home runs and finished with six RBI as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team opened its 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship run with a dominating 12-2 victory against UT Martin, Wednesday at Rent One Park.
Austin Peay (31-23) advances in the winner’s bracket and will face Eastern Kentucky in a 3 p.m., Thursday contest at Rent One Park.
Campbell’s impact was felt in Austin Peay’s first turn at bat. After right fielder Parker Phillips hit a two-out single, center fielder Garrett Spain was hit by a pitch. Campbell did not waste a pitch, taking the first one he saw over the wall in left for a three-run shot.
UT Martin (25-30) would chip into the lead with single runs in both the second and fourth innings. First baseman Ethan Whitley cut the Govs lead to one run with his solo home run in the fourth.
But the Governors scored the game’s next nine runs. Second baseman Malcolm Tipler hit a three-run home run in the fourth, extending the APSU lead to 6-2. One inning later, Campbell struck again with a two-run home run to left center and the lead was 8-2.
Austin Peay plated three runs on a trio of consecutive singles in the sixth by Spain, Campbell and catcher David Martinez. Shortstop Garrett Kueber added a RBI single in the seventh to set the final score.
Pucheu (8-4) was needed for just six innings of work courtesy the Govs offensive outburst. He tied the Austin Peay single-season record for strikeouts (105) with an eight-strikeout outing that saw him scatter two hits and a walk.
Campbell led the Govs with a 3-for-5, six RBI performance while becoming the third APSU hitter with two home runs in an OVC tournament game since 1996. Tipler was 2-for-3 with three RBI and Phillips went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
UTM starter Winston Cannon (6-9) surrendered eight runs on seven hits and four walk over his five innings. Whitley’s 1-for-4, one RBI outing paced the Skyhawks offense, which was held to four hits.
#5 MURRAY STATE 9, #8 UT MARTIN 4
MARION, Ill. - The Murray State baseball team lives to play another day as they defeated UT Martin, 9-4, in their second game of the day at the OVC Tournament in Marion, Illinois.
Trevor McMurray threw 7.1 innings, striking out a career-high nine batters. Braydon Cook finished out the final 1.2 innings of the game with two strikeouts and allowing just one hit and no runs.
Every player in the starting lineup got hit, RBI, or scored a run led by Jaron Robinson who went 3-4 with two RBI, two runs scored, and two stolen bases. He also became just the 14th player in Murray State history to record 200 hits with his first base knock of the game.
Brock Anderson went 2-3 with a home run and two runs scored while Jordan Cozart went 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Ryan Perkins also added three hits for the Racers.
The Skyhawks opened the scoring in the first with a run, but MSU answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. Cozart got the Racers on the board with an RBI double before Robinson knocked in two more runs with a single.
Anderson answered UT Martin's solo home run in the top of the third with his own in the bottom of the inning, his team-leading 13th home run of the season. Wes Schad added another run with an RBI single later in the inning.
Robinson created havoc on the basepaths in the sixth leading to another run. After hitting a single to open the inning, he stole second and third and when the catcher's throw to third sailed into left field, Robinson came into score.
The Skyhawks cut the MSU lead in half in the eighth with two runs, but the Racers responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs to push their lead back up to five. CJ Bush hit an RBI single before Jordan Holly knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and Perkins doubled in a run to make it 9-4.
Cook came out for the ninth and finished off the game with a 1-2-3 inning.