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The 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continued with three games on Thursday.
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 6: #1 Jacksonville State 6, #4 Belmont 5 (10)
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Game 7: #2 Austin Peay 9, #6 Eastern Kentucky 7
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Game 8: #3 Morehead State 2, #5 Murray State 1
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#1 JACKSONVILLE STATE 6, #4 BELMONT 5 (10)
MARION, Ill. - Top-seeded Jacksonville State advanced in the winners bracket of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament with its ninth walk-off win of the season with Alex Strachan's lead off blast in the 10th inning to down Belmont, 6-5, on Thursday at Rent One Park.
The dramatic finish was Jax State's 10th last at-bat win of the season and the seventh by way of a home run. Strachan drilled a payoff pitch from Belmont's Kyle Brennan to straight centerfield (400 feet) to give the Gamecocks the win. Strachan, from Madison, Alabama, has become accustomed to being involved with walk-off wins as he belted the game-tying home run in the ninth against then-eighth-ranked Georgia and had the game-winning single in the 11th to knock off the Bulldogs on May 8 on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. JSU has had six last at-bat win in its last nine games and pushed its mark to 7-0 in extra innings.
The Gamecocks collected their 10th consecutive win, which ranks third in NCAA Division I Baseball through games-played on Wednesday. Central Michigan has reeled off 15 straight wins, while UC Santa Barbara has claimed 13 wins in a row. JSU will face either No. seed Austin Peay or No. 6 seed Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 11 a.m.
JSU was in cruise control with a two-run, 3-1, lead through the first eight innings as Belmont touched Gamecock starter Garrett Farmer for a run on two hits in the second inning. Farmer, who was named the OVC Pitcher of the Year earlier in the week, handcuffed the Bruins the rest of the way. The Huntsville, Alabama native went 7.2 innings on Thursday and added five more strikeouts on the season and for his career total. Farmer needed one strikeout to reach the 100 strikeouts in a season plateau and achieved that feat with a strike out of the first Bruin he faced. The righty became the second Gamecock all-time to have two 100-plus strikeout seasons during a career. Farmer overtook former Gamecock pitcher Bryan Williamson (1995-99) as the all-time leader in career strikeouts. Williamson posted 262 career strikeouts before Farmer overtook the top spot with 266 career strikeouts.
Jax State answered Belmont's run in the top half of the frame with a three-run bottom half – all with two outs. Strachan started the rally with a one-out double to left field, followed by a two-out single by freshman Carson Crowe and a walk by Nash Adams to load the bases. Junior Tre Kirklin laced a two-RBI single to right field to give JSU the lead. Sophomore Cole Frederick beat out an infield single for the third RBI of the inning. Frederick extended his hitting streak to 16 games with the hit. Frederick posted a three hits on the day, including a two-out single to keep the Gamecocks alive in the ninth. Frederick would score the game-tying run on a bloop double by junior Alex Webb.
The Gamecocks needed the two runs in the ninth after Belmont put together a two-out rally in the visitors half of the inning. After Jackson Tavel fanned the first two hitters, a pair of walks by Christian Edwards and two bloop singles to right field, the Bruins took a 5-3 lead in to JSU's last at bat in regulation.
Junior Corley Woods, who pitched a clean top of the 10th, moved to 6-0 on the season out of the bullpen.
#2 AUSTIN PEAY 9, #4 EASTERN KENTUCKY 7
MARION, Ill. - Outfielder Aaron Campbell continued to wreak havoc at the plate, finishing with three hits and five RBI to help Austin Peay State University’s baseball team outlast Eastern Kentucky, 9-7, Thursday afternoon at Rent One Park.
Second-seeded Austin Peay (32-23) advances to the winner’s bracket final where it will face No. 1 seed Jacksonville State, which fended off Belmont in the day’s first game. The Govs and Gamecocks will meet in an 11 a.m., Friday contest with the winner advancing to the championship round.
The Governors railed 3-0 after an inning and a half but began a rally when Campbell singled to start the second inning. Catcher David Martinez followed with a home run to the opposite field and Austin Peay slashed the lead to 3-2.
Eastern Kentucky’s lead would only last as long as it took for Campbell to reach the plate in the third. With two out, right fielder Parker Phillips singled and center fielder Garrett Spain earned a walk with two outs. Campbell returned to the plate and rifled his third home run of the tournament to right field, giving the Govs a 5-2 lead.
Austin Peay added single runs in the next three innings. Spain added a run-scoring double in the fifth. Designated hitter Matt Joslin drove in the fifth-inning run with a double. Campbell then drove in the Govs eighth run with a single in the sixth.
Eastern Kentucky (31-26) charged back in the seventh getting four plate appearances with bases loaded. Colonels center fielder Michael Brewer drove in two with a bases-loaded, one-out double. EKU would load the bases again with their third walk of the inning and gained another run when a wild pitch on a strikeout got to the wall, cutting the Govs lead to 8-6. However, Austin Peay converted another strikeout to end the Eastern Kentucky rally.
Campbell would get the Governors an insurance run in the eighth. After a wild pitch allowed Spain to reach third base, Campbell hit a ground ball to second base which allowed Spain to score, giving the Govs a 9-6 advantage.
Eastern Kentucky would bring the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth inning and drove in a run on Daniel Harris’ single. But APSU closer Brett Newberg struck out the next batter to end the game and pick up his season’s eighth save.
Govs reliever Ryan Kouba (5-1), who entered in the first inning for starter Josh Rye, allowed one run over a career-high 5.1 innings to pick up the victory.
Campbell went 3-for-5 with five RBI and now has a program-record 11 RBI in the tournament. Phillips went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Martinez was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Eastern Kentucky starter Jacob Ferris (6-5) was handed the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits in his 3.1-inning outing. Center fielder Michael Brewer was 2-for-3 with three RBI to lead the Colonels offense.
#3 MOREHEAD STATE 2, #5 MURRAY STATE 1
MARION, Ill. - Facing elimination in the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament, Morehead State junior Ryan Layne made sure his Eagles weren't taking an early two-and-out exit.
Layne crushed a two-out, walk-off home run to center-field as the Eagles outlasted Murray State 2-1 late Thursday evening at Rent One Ballpark. The heroics also helped make a complete-game winner out of junior pitcher Jason Goe, who struck out 11 Racer batters and allowed only a fourth-inning home run to light the run column for the Racers.
Layne's third round-tripper of the season propelled the Eagles into a 38-20 overall, mark, tying the 2015 OVC Tournament Championship team for the most wins in a season in program history. The Eagles defeated Murray State (24-31) all four times the squads faced off this year, including two come-from-behind walk-off victories.
In the ninth, junior designated hitter Jon Burghardt drew a leadoff free pass from Murray reliever Jake Jones. Pinch runner Zach Boyd appeared to have taken second base on a steal attempt but was ruled out when junior Dom Peroni struck out and was ruled to interfere on the catcher's throw to second base. Layne wasted no time in ending the game, smashing the first pitch he saw from Jones deep over the center-field fence.
The Eagles struggled to drive in runs against Murray State starter Gray Dorsey, going scoreless until the seventh inning and tailing 1-0 when Racer shortstop Jaron Robinson belted a solo shot in the fourth. Layne also nearly drove in the tying run in the seventh on a double, but the ball careened over the fence for a ground-rule double in nearly the same spot as the game-winning homer, sending runner Burghardt back to third. Senior catcher Hunter Fain calmly grounded out to second base through to push Burghardt across.
Meanwhile Goe kept his team within striking distance, throwing his first career complete game. He sat down 11 on punchouts, just two shy of the career-high 13 he whiffed at UT Martin this year.