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The 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship concluded Day No. 2 on Thursday.
In the first game of the day Jacksonville State eliminated Morehead State with a 12-5 victory.
No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois won its second game in as many days by besting No. 2 seed Eastern Kentucky 11-2 in the second game of the day.
In the nightcap No. 6 seed Southeast knocked off No. 1 seed Austin Peay, meaning both OVC Co-Champions and the top two seeds in the tournament lost on Thursday.
This season marks the 34th time the event has been held but the third year in a row it has been held at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn. Pringles Park is home of the Jackson Generals, the AA-affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
The entire tournament is being streamed live and free of charge at OVCSports.TV.
Thursday, May 24
Game 3 - #3 Jacksonville State 12, #5 Morehead State 5
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Game 4 - #4 Eastern Illinois 11, #2 Eastern Kentucky 2
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Game 5 - #6 Southeast Missouri 4, #1 Austin Peay 3
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#3 JACKSONVILLE STATE 12, #5 MOREHEAD STATE 5
JACKSON, Tenn. - No. 3 seed Jacksonville State staved off elimination at the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with a 12-5 victory over No. 5 seed Morehead State on Thursday at Pringles Park.
Morehead State (28-27) saw its season come to an end with the loss. With the victory Jacksonville State (27-29) remains alive to play No. 2 seed Eastern Kentucky in an elimination game on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m.
Daniel Watts (6-6) was the story on the mound for the Gamecocks, throwing 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball until Morehead State's Austin Haney singled with one out in the sixth inning. Watts finished the day allowing just the one hit and striking out 11 in six innings of work. The 11 strikeouts tied an OVC Tournament neutral site record also achieved by Samford's Josh Ehmke (2006) and Eastern Illinois' Nick Albu (2002).
Senior Sam Eberle led the Gamecock offense attack, which tallied 17 total hits, by doubling and driving in four runs. Eberle now has 62 career doubles, three away from the OVC career record of 65. Senior outfielder Kyle Bluestein added a pair of hits and three RBI.
The Morehead State defense did not help out starting pitcher Noah Smallwood, as they committed five total errors on the game. Smallwood (3-4) took the loss, allowing eight runs (only three of which were earned) in five innings of work.
The Eagles avoided the shutout by scoring four times in the eighth inning and once in the ninth. In his final game in a MSU uniform senior Andrew Deeds was 2-for-5 with a RBI. Deeds finished the season with 87 hits, setting a new single-season Morehead State record.
#4 EASTERN ILLINOIS 11, #2 EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
JACKSON, Tenn. - No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois had 15 total hits and scored six times in the sixth inning on its way to an 11-2 victory over No. 2 seed Eastern Kentucky in Game No. 4 of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship on Thursday at Pringles Park.
The victory was the second in as many days for the Panthers (28-27), who advanced to the winner's bracket final against Southeast Missouri on Friday night at 7 p.m.
With the loss EKU (31-21) falls into the loser's bracket and will play No. 3 seed Jacksonville State in an elimination game Friday morning at 11 a.m. The loss was just the seventh for Eastern Kentucky in its last 31 games.
Eastern Kentucky entered the OVC Tournament leading Division I in home runs/game (1.25), but it was Eastern Illinois who went deep twice. Included in those home runs was one by senior Ben Thoma who went yard for the second-straight day, tying the EIU career record with his 39th home run.
Through four games of the tournament a total of three home runs have been hit, all of which came off EIU player bats.
Ryan Dineen, who had the game-winning hit on Wednesday, added the other home run and had four RBI on the day.
Junior Troy Barton (9-5) picked up his ninth victory of the season in scattering six hits and allowing an unearned run over 6.2 innings of work.
EIU senior Darin Worman pitched 1.1 innings in what was his 36th appearance of the season, setting a new OVC single-season record in that category.
OVC Pitcher of the Year Matt Fyffe lasted just 5.1 innings, as the allowed 11 hits and nine earned runs in suffering his first loss of the season.
#6 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4, #1 AUSTIN PEAY 3
JACKSON, Tenn. - Redshirt freshman Jason Blum singled home Kody Campbell with one out in the top of the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie as No. 6 seed Southeast Missouri would go on to upset No. 1 seed Austin Peay by a 4-3 margin on day two of the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship at Pringles Park.
After Blum's single the Redhawks would add a second run in the inning on a wild pitch and a third on a RBI single by OVC Player of the Year Trenton Moses. It marked the first RBI of the tournament for Moses, who was one RBI short of winning the OVC's Triple Crown during the regular season.
It win was the sixth-straight victory for Southeast Missouri (23-34) over Austin Peay (34-22) in OVC Tournament action dating back to the 2002 season. With the win the Redhawks will play No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois in the winner's bracket finale on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
The loss by the No. 1 seed Governors meant that both of the top seeds and regular season co-champions (Eastern Kentucky being the other) at the OVC Tournament lost on Day Two. Austin Peay will the winner of the Eastern Kentucky/Jacksonville State elimination game at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.
Austin Peay scored the first run of the day when OVC RBI leader Greg Bachman singled home Jon Clinard in the fourth inning.
An inning later Southeast Missouri senior Kenton Parmley hit a solo home run, becoming the first non-Eastern Illinois player to homer in this year's OVC Tournament.
After not going longer than seven innings previously in his career, Southeast Missouri's Shae Simmons (7-4) faced one batter in the ninth inning, lasting a career-best eight-plus innings. Simmons scattered six hits and allowed two runs while striking out five.
After walking Matt Wollenzin to start the ninth inning, Simmons gave way to senior Ryan Prickett who allowed two runs to cross the plate (one of which was charged to Simmons), but struck out Bachman with the bases loaded to end the game and pick up his third save of the season.
APSU's Zach Toney scattered five hits and allowed one run over seven innings of work, throwing 140 pitches in the process. He struck out seven and walked four in getting a no-decision. Zane Leffew took the loss after allowing two earned runs in the eighth inning.
The Govs Mike Hebert appeared in the ninth inning to notch his 36th appearance of the season, tying the OVC single-season record set by Eastern Illinois' Darin Worman in the previous game of the day.
With a single in the seventh inning Moses extended his streak of reaching base safely to 77 games dating back to last season.