FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 9, UT Martin 6
Austin Peay 10, @Murray State 3
@Belmont 7, Morehead State 4
@Jacksonville State 5, Eastern Illinois 2
@Southern Illinois 4,
Eastern Kentucky 3 (10 innings)
SIUE at Tennessee Tech (postponed)
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 9, UT MARTIN 6
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri baseball team earned a series victory with a 9-6 win over UT Martin Friday evening at Capaha Field. The Redhawks moved to 14-14 overall and 6-5 in the OVC as the Skyhawks fall to 8-18 overall and 1-10 in the OVC.
Southeast was paced by Andy Lennington and Cole Bieser as they each finished the day 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI. Bieser also added a pair of runs on the day.
Lennington extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He has also recorded two or more hits in six of his last seven games.
The Skyahwks got on the board first in the top of the third inning with a pair of runs. Brent Morris scored on an error after opening the inning with a double. Grant Glasser added an RBI double in the frame as the Skyhawks led 2-0.
Southeast tied the contest at 2-2 in the in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-run double from Bieser.
The Redhawks took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with six runs. Nolan Fisher opened the scoring with his first career home run to left field. Matt Tellor and Lennington added RBI singles in the frame.
UT Martin cut the deficit to 8-6 with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Wade Collins highlighted the frame with a two out two-run single to left field.
The Redhawks added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Lennington RBI double to left field to give Southeast a 9-6 lead.
Senior Bobby Hurst would then close the door on the Skyhawks in the ninth inning as he combined with Michael Patman, Skylar Cobb and Tony Zerrusen to throw four innings of scoreless relief out of the Southeast bullpen.
Sophomore Will Spitzfaden (3-2) earned the win going five innings allowing six runs (five earned) with four strikeouts.
Taylor Cox (0-3) was tagged with the loss going 3.2 innings allowing eight runs (three earned) with five knockouts and four walks.
Brent Morris led UTM going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
AUSTIN PEAY 10, MURRAY STATE 3
MURRAY, Ky. - Senior starting pitcher Casey Delgado struck out a career-high 10 batters and Austin Peay State University’s baseball team clinched its sixth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference series with a 10-3 victory against Murray State, Friday, at Reagan Field.
Delgado (5-1), who battled a high fever before and during the outing, began the game by striking out four of the first five batters he faced and struck out the side in order in the second. He would surrender a run in the third, but settled back in and retired eight consecutive batters and 14 of 15 until surrendering a second run in the seventh.
Delgado struck out a career-high 10 batters one week after setting his career high with nine strikeouts against Jacksonville State. He surrendered only four hits, did not walk a batter and allowed two runs (one earned) over seven innings for his season’s fifth victory.
Austin Peay (21-5, 6-1 OVC) provided Delgado all the offense he needed in the second inning when catcher P.J. Torres hit a two-out, three-run home run. The Govs would tack on another seven runs in the fifth inning, senior shortstop Reed Harper punctuating the burst with a three-run home run.
Murray State (12-14, 6-5 OVC) managed only two hits off Delgado through six innings before posting two hits, including shortstop Noah Zipko’s RBI single, in the seventh inning. The Thoroughbreds would not record a hit against the Govs bullpen in the eighth and ninth innings, finishing the day with four hits while striking out 12 times.
‘Breds starter Cashtyn DeLeeuw (2-1) suffered the loss after allowing 10 runs (five earned) on nine hits over 4.2 innings. Reliever Sheldon Baxter held the Govs scoreless over the final 4.1 innings while striking out five batters.
Torres led the Govs 13-hit offensive attack with a 2-for-3, three RBI effort. Designated hitter Michael Davis, center fielder Dylan Riner and left fielder Cody Hudson had two hits each.
Zipko led Murray State with a 2-for-2 outing. The top five batters in the ‘Breds lineup were held hitless over 15 collective at-bats.
BELMONT 7, MOREHEAD STATE 4
NASHVILLE - Behind a four run seventh inning, Belmont Baseball (19-6, 7-1) defeated Morehead State, 7-4 on Friday under difficult playing conditions.
Morehead State loaded the bases in the top of the second, but starter Austin Coley (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) pitched out of the jam as he struck out three in a row.
An RBI single from Alec Diamond (Kennesaw, Ga.) in the bottom of the second scored Drew Turner (Shelbyville, Tenn.), who hit his fourth double of the season, to put the Bruins on the board first, 1-0.
Jared Breen (Marietta, Ga.) tripled to right center to leadoff the third. Josh Davis (Fayetteville, Ga.) singled to right field to score Breen and put Belmont up 2-0.
Duran Elmore drew a leadoff walk and scored the first run for Morehead State off a single from Alan Mochabee. A sacrifice fly from Chase Greenwall tied the game at 2-2.
A sacrifice fly from Davis allowed Belmont to regain the lead, 3-2, scoring Drew Ferguson (Knoxville, Tenn.).
Coley gave up three hits and two runs in five innings of work. He struck out seven and walked two.
The Eagles tied the game at 3-3 on an RBI single from Chris Robinson in the seventh.
Belmont regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a wild pitch from Morehead State reliever Gerardo Arias, and a pair of doubles from Davis and Matt Beaty (Dresden, Tenn.) extended the Bruins lead to 7-3.
Morehead State added a run in the top of the eighth.
Jessie Snodgrass (Lebanon, Tenn.) matched a season high three strike outs in his 2.2 innings of relief. Davis closed the game striking out two and earning his seventh save of the season.
Ferguson went 4-for-5 at the plate while Davis went 2-for-3 driving in four runs.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 5, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Paschal Petrongolo had a pair of hits and drove in three runs to lead Jacksonville State to a 5-2 win over Eastern Illinois as the Gamecocks have won the first two meetings of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.
Taylor Shields (5-2) scattered six hits and allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings to earn the win, while Travis Stout struck out the side in the ninth inning to record his eighth save of the season. EIU's Joe Greenfield (1-3) gave up just one earned run on only four hits, but was the victim of five EIU errors to suffer the loss for the Panthers.
Jacksonville State (14-14, 8-3 OVC) took the early lead after Petrongolo led off the second with a solo home run to left center to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead. It was the third home run over the last three games for the Blackwood, N.J., native.
The Panthers (6-17, 0-7) tied the game in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Nick Priessman, but the Gamecocks answered in the home half of the fifth inning.
Michael Bishop extended his hitting streak to 10 games after hitting a single down the left field line, while Griff Gordon reached on an error and Coty Blanchard walked to load the bases. Petrongolo then drove in two runs with a single to score Bishop and Gordon. EIU then commited its second error of the inning to allow Blanchard and Petrongolo to both score as the Gamecocks built a 5-1 lead.
Eastern Illinois's Treyson Vavra reached on a one-out double and scored after Brant Valachhad singled to center field for the final margin. Vavra, Priessman and Caleb Howell each had two hits to lead the Panthers.
Bishop and Petrongolo each had a pair of hits to lead the Gamecocks, who finished with just four hits in the game. It was the fourth straight win for Jax State in the series and the second straight season the Gamecocks won the OVC series over the Panthers.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 4, EASTERN KENTUCKY 3 (10)
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Ben Gullo pitched a gem, but Eastern Kentucky couldn’t hold off Southern Illinois in a 10-inning 4-3 loss on Friday.
Gullo pitched nine-plus innings, allowed just two earned runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out four batters. The sophomore had a stretch in which he retired 15 of 17 batters and faced the minimum number of batters in the fourth through eighth innings. Before allowing an earned in the ninth, Gullo had allowed only one earned run over his previous 17 innings.
After Southern Illinois (11-14) tied it in the bottom of the ninth, a lead-off double by Austin Grisham in the 10th got the Colonels off to a good start. Doug Teegarden followed with a single to put runners at the corners. A fielder’s choice retired Grisham, but EKU still had runners at first and second. A bloop single into right field by Demetrius Moorer was enough to score Teegarden and put Eastern back on top 3-2.
Gullo walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the 10th before leaving the game. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second, Wes Neece drove the ball over Grisham’s head in center to plate the tying run. Ryan Rosthenhausler followed with a game-winning single up the middle to score Neece from second.
Seven different Colonels (5-17) recorded one hit each. Rosthenhausler went 3-for-4 for SIU.
Southern Illinois took advantage of an EKU error to score the game’s first run with two outs in the bottom of the second inning.
Kenny Hostrander led off the third with a single for the Colonels. Matt Phipps appeared to be looking to sacrifice Hostrander to second with a bunt, but on his third attempt he brought the bat back and smacked a double over the left fielder’s head. After the next batter was retired, John Wilson’s single to left center drove in both runners and put the visitors on top 2-1.
After Wilson’s hit, SIU starter Cody Forsythe retired the next 17 batters. Eastern didn’t get its next hit until Southern Illinois went to the pen in the ninth. Forsythe allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings of work. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
The Salukis finally got to Gullo in the ninth. After a lead-off walk, Rennie Troggio’s used a sacrifice bunt to get the runner into scoring position. Matt Jones hit the first pitch he saw into the gap in left center to score the tying run and send the game to extra innings.
Lee Weld (2-1) earned the win after pitching the final three innings in relief. He allowed one run on four hits, walked one and struck out two. Eric Nerl (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up one run on two hits.