TUESDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 3-7, Youngstown State 1-10 (Gastin, N.C.)
@West Virginia 2,
Eastern Kentucky 1
@#2 Vanderbilt 8,
Eastern Illinois 3
@Arkansas-Little Rock 3,
Southeast Missouri 2
@Arkansas State 9,
UT Martin 0
Alabama State
at Jacksonville State (cancelled)
Michigan State
at Tennessee Tech (cancelled)
MOREHEAD STATE 3-7, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 1-10
GASTIN, N.C. - Three Morehead State pitchers combined on a five-hitter as the Eagle baseball team knocked off Youngstown State, 3-1, in the opening game of a doubleheader Tuesday at Sims Field. The Eagles dropped game two, 10-7. The games were moved to Gastonia due to unplayable field conditions in Morehead.
The Eagles moved to 5-8 on the season, while the Penguins are now 3-11.
In game one, freshman righty Tyler Keele (2-0) tossed the first five, allowing the only run and just four Penguin hits, while fellow freshman right-hander Clark Pence pitched the middle 1.2 frames with just one hit surrendered. Senior righty Austin Haney didn't allow a hit in the final 2.1 innings for his second career save.
Redshirt sophomore catcher Chris Robinson had two of the Eagles' four hits, while freshman third baseman Alan Mochabee, senior shortstop Chase Greenwell and sophomore right fielder Brandon Rawe tallied RBI in the Eagle win.
Greenwell registered an run-scoring single, and Mochabee added a sacrifice fly, during a two-run fourth frame. Rawe plated Robinson with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. YSU's lone run came in the fifth when Phil Lapari lined an RBI single.
Jared Wright (0-1) absorbed the setback for the Penguins, despite allowing just two hits in four innings.
Game two saw much more offense for both teams. MSU pushed out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning when senior catcher Drew Williams blasted a three-run homer, the Eagles’ first of the season.
YSU battled back though, plating two runs in the fifth and four in the sixth, to take a 7-5 lead. Mocahbee tied it up in the seventh with a two-run smash over the center field wall. The Penguins scored the last three runs of the contest on a three-run homer off pitcher Matt Duncan in the eighth inning.
Duncan (0-2) took the loss, while YSU junior righty Nic Manuppelli tossed the final two innings and picked up the win out of the bullpen.
Greenwell batted 4-for-9 on the day with three RBI.
WEST VIRGINIA 2, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team held West Virginia scoreless in eight innings, but two runs in the third was enough to lead the Mountaineers to a 2-1 victory in Morgantown.
With one out and one on in the third inning, Matt Frazer sent the ball over the center field fence for a two run shot.
With two outs and two on in the top of the fifth, the Colonels (3-5) cut the deficit in half on a single to right center by Doug Teegarden. The tying run moved to third but the inning ended on a ground ball by the next batter.
EKU got runners on first and second with one out in the top of the ninth, but the next two batters flied out and grounded out to end the comeback bid.
Ryan Hostrander (1-0) earned the win for West Virginia (5-6) after pitching one and one-third innings of scoreless relief. Zach Bargeron started and allowed one run on two hits in four and two-thirds innings. He walked three and struck out three.
Junior Brent Cobb (1-2) started for Eastern. He allowed one run on three hits in two and two-thirds innings. Freshman Chris Cervantes allowed one run on three hits in three and one-third innings of relief.
Teegarden went 2-for-2 with an RBI. Matt Phipps was 1-for-2 with a run scored. Frazer’s only hit for WVU was his two-run home run. Ryan Tuntland went 3-for-4 for the Mountaineers.
#2 VANDERBILT 8, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3
NASHVILLE - The Panther baseball team dropped an 8-3 contest at No. 2 Vanderbilt on Tuesday afternoon at Hawkins Field. EIU opens Ohio Valley Conference action on March 8-10 at SIUE.
Trailing 8-0 heading into the top of the seventh, the Panthers (3-8) scored three runs on three hits and one Vanderbilt error to cut its deficit to five (8-5). The rally fell short as Vanderbilt’s Tyler Ferguson retired the final six EIU batters.
The Commodores (13-1) posted seven more hits (15-8) than EIU and committed two more errors (2-0). The Panthers left three more runners on base (9-6) in the loss.
Caleb Howell led the team at the plate as the sophomore outfielder went 2-for-2 with one run. Cameron Berra also added two hits, including a double.
Jaden Widdersheim (1-3) was tagged with the loss, surrendering six hits and four runs in two innings of work. All told, the Panthers used five relief pitchers that combined to only allow four runs with four strikeouts against the nationally ranked foe.
Walker Buehler (1-0) earned the win for Vanderbilt, striking out four batters in six scoreless innings. Spencer Navin led the Commodores at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Southeast Missouri baseball team's ninth inning rally fell 90-feet short in a 3-2 loss to Sun Belt foe Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday evening at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, Ark. The Redhawks drop to 7-6 overall with the loss as the Trojans improve to 9-3.
The Southeast bullpen was brilliant in relief of starter Hank Williams, Jr (1.2 innings of work, three earned runs) keeping the Redhawks in the game as Southeast threw 7.1 innings of scoreless baseball.
Tony Zerrusen led the bullpen's charge going 4.1 innings allowing three hits. Michael Patman and Alex Siddle also saw time out of the time as Siddle worked his way out of a bases loaded jam. Jason Blum followed in his second appearances forcing three groundball outs.
Cole Bieser, Ryan Barnes and John Logan Zink added a pair of hits apiece to lead the Redhawks offensively. Bieser also added a run in the contest.
The Trojans got on the board with two runs in the first inning. Blake Johnson highlighted the frame with a home run to left centerfield. UALR added another run on a failed pickoff attempt to make it 3-0 in the second inning.
The Redhawks got on the board in the sixth inning as Bieser scored on a passed ball after he reached on a single earlier in the inning and was advanced by a Matt Tellor single.
Southeast trailed 3-1 going into the ninth inning, but managed to cut the UALR lead to within one at 3-2 and left the tying run at third base as Arkansas-Little Rock won their second straight game against Southeast after Southeast won five straight in the series.
Chad Bradford earned the win for the Trojans going 5.2 innings allowing six hits and a with an unearned run. Tyler Buckley earned the save getting the strikeout of Zink to end the contest.
Centerfielder Ben Crumpton led the Trojans offense with three hits and a run scored.
ARKANSAS STATE 9, UT MARTIN 0
JONESBORO, Ark. - Senior third baseman Matt Haynes collected a pair of hits tonight and The University of Tennessee at Martin pitching staff combined for double-digit strikeout totals once again, but it wasn’t enough as the Skyhawks fell 9-0 at Arkansas State.
Haynes’ two-hit performance was the 14th multi-hit outing of his career for the Jackson, Tenn. native. Sophomore Sonny Mastromatteo also had a hit tonight for UT Martin (5-7).
On the hill, the Skyhawks fanned 10-plus batters for the sixth time in 12 games this season. Starting pitcher John Houston fell to 0-3 on the season but only allowed one earned run over two innings while fanning three Red Wolves. Trevor Lundgrin (0.2 innings) and Carter Smith (two innings) produced shutout appearances out of the bullpen, while fellow relievers John Skubina and Jacob Gansert allowed only one earned run apiece over the final three innings.
Houston needed only eight pitches to retire Arkansas State in the first inning, but the Red Wolves scored two runs in the second to go ahead early. Arkansas State added five runs in its next at-bat to take a 7-0 lead after three innings of play.
Smith produced clean fourth and fifth innings for UT Martin, followed by Skubina striking out the side in the sixth.
Arkansas State added one more run in the seventh and eighth innings to provide the final 9-0 scoring margin.