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The 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continues with action on Saturday.
Tickets for the event are $10 per adult per day and $5 per day for children (12 and under) and college students with valid ID and can be purchased in-person at The Ballpark at Jackson. Parking is $5 per day. All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
This year marks the 42nd OVC Baseball Tournament (the first elimination style event was held in 1979) and first since May 2019 as last year's event was canceled due to the pandemic. It also marks the return to the venue that previously hosted the OVC Championship from 2010-16.
The Ballpark at Jackson opened in 1998 and has a seating capacity of 6,000. The venue hosted the 1999 and 2011 Southern League All-Star Games. In 2017 and 2018, The Ballpark at Jackson won back-to-back Sports Field of the Year honors from the Tennessee Turfgrass Association. The back-to-back victories marked the first time that any facility in the Volunteer State won the award in consecutive seasons. Jackson is located in the heart of West Tennessee halfway between Memphis and Nashville conveniently on Interstate 40.
Fans can watch the entire 2021 OVC Baseball Tournament live on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $5.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($12.99/month). ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment, is an integrated part of the ESPN App and (on mobile and connected devices) and ESPN.com. More information can be found at
www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.
Game 5: #2 Murray State 7, #4 Austin Peay 6 (11)
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
APSU
Game 6: #2 Murray State 10, #1 Southeast Missouri
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
MSU,
SEMO
#2 MURRAY STATE 7, #4 AUSTIN PEAY 6
JACKSON, Tenn. - A wild finish to a great game saw the Murray State Racers (32-24) walk-off on a wild pitch against the Austin Peay Governors (22-33) in 11 innings, 7-6 to advance to their first championship since 2003.
Brock Anderson and Jordan Cozart have been going blow-for-blow with home runs all tournament long. Anderson hit his third in the first inning while Cozart launched his fourth in the fifth, which ties for second-most in the OVC Tournament. They both have hit 19 home runs on the season.
The offense was a team-effort as eight of nine Racers in the starting lineup collected a hit and the defensive was fantastic to keep the Govs off the base paths.
The Govs got the scoring started in the first inning with an unearned run but Anderson answered with his 19th home run of the season and third of the OVC tournament to even the game at one.
In the third, the Govs had bases loaded with only one out but Quinton Kujawa limited the damage to only one run. Austin Peay tacked on another run in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
Murray State began chipping away at the Govs two-run lead as Brennan McCullough drove in Bryson Bloomer for his first RBI on the tournament, cutting the deficit to one.
After Austin Peay added two in the top half of the fifth, the Racers went to work in the bottom half of the inning. Jake Slunder and Brock Anderson both drove in runs in the inning before the big two-run blast from Jordan Cozart gave the Racers their first lead of the game. It was Cozart's fourth home run of the tournament, tied for second-most all-time in the OVC, and his 19th of the season to tie Anderson for the league lead.
Austin Peay tied the game in the top of the seventh on a RBI groundout. The game would remain scoreless to send the Racers to their second extra-inning game of the tournament.
In extra innings, the Racers had two on with nobody out in the tenth but a double play and a foul out ended the threat.
For the second inning in a row, Wes Schad, pinch hitting, lead off the 11th with an infield single and a walk to David Hudleson had two on for the Racers. Jordan Holly came on to pinch run for Schad and Jake Slunder put down his first sacrifice bunt of the season to move the runners into scoring position. An intentional walk to Bloomer loaded the bases for Anderson. Anderson struck out but the pitch bounced in the dirt over the catchers' head allowing Holly to score from third and walk off the game.
Kujawa got the start for the Racers, starting his second game in as many days. He threw 74 pitches to give Murray State 3.2 strong innings after throwing 54 pitches in three innings against Morehead State yesterday.
Cade Vernon came on for a third of an inning and Alec Whaley pitched 2.1 innings to get way to Connor Holden.
Holden earned the win, coming on for the Racers in the seventh. He pitched a new career-high, 4.2 innings, and allowed only one hit and one runner into scoring position on a walk in the eighth in fifteen batters faced.
#2 MURRAY STATE 10, #1 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
JACKSON, Tenn. - Bryson Bloomer hit a grand slam in the fourth inning as Murray State broke open a close game on its way to a 10-1 victory over Southeast Missouri.
The win will force a winner-take-all Championship Game on Sunday at Noon between the two teams.
After winning in walk-off fashion earlier in the day, the Racers struck first by scoring in the second inning on a RBI groundout. But after a five-run fourth inning, the game was never in doubt, as MSU did not allow a SEMO run until the seventh inning.
Malik Pogue gave the Racers four strong innings, allowing only three hits while striking out five. Jacob Pennington entered the game in the fifth and went the rest of the weay, allowing four hits, walking nobody and striking out six in improving to 5-2 on the season.
Hunter Ralls took the loss for Southeast Missouri, allowing five earned runs in 3.2 innings of work.