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The 2013 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship featured three games on Thursday.
In the first game of the day No. 3 Belmont eliminated No. 4 seed Jacksonville State. In the second game of the day Austin Peay opened tournament play with a victory over No. 5 seed Eastern Kentucky. The day concluded with Tennessee Tech topped Southeast Missouri.
This season marks the 35th time the event has been held and the fourth year in a row it has been held at The Ballpart at Jackson (formerly Pringles Park) in Jackson, Tenn. The venue is home of the Jackson Generals, the AA-affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
The entire tournament is being streamed live and free of charge on the OVC Digital Network. The games are available in HD and available on any computer, tablet or smart phone.
Game 3: #3 Belmont 6, #4 Jacksonville State 3
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Game 4: #2 Austin Peay 13, #5 Eastern Kentucky 3
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Game 5: #1 Tennessee Tech 5, #6 Southeast Missouri 1
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#3 BELMONT 6, #4 JACKSONVILLE STATE 3
JACKSON, Tenn. - Belmont senior left-hander Chase Brookshire struck out 14 batters in leading the Bruins to a 6-3 victory over Jacksonville State in an elimination game on Thursday at the OVC Baseball Championship.
The 14 strikeouts were an OVC Tournament neutral site record, eclipsing the previous mark of 12 accomplished three times (including most recently last season).
Brookshire (5-2) allowed single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but was dominant the rest of the way, scatting five hits and walking only one batter. The senior threw 120 pitches in what was only his fourth start after returning from an injury that kept him out for the middle portion of the season.
The Bruins (38-19) had 10 hits as a team with Alec Diamond going 4-for-4 and Matt Beaty driving in three runs.
Jacksonville State (3-26) saw its season come to an end with the loss. Griff Gordon was 3-for-3 with a home run for the Gamecocks.
Belmont advances to play a to be determined opponent at 11 a.m. on Friday morning.
#2 AUSTIN PEAY 13, #5 EASTERN KENTUCKY 4
JACKSON, Tenn. - No. 2 seed Austin Peay fell behind 2-0 after half an inning but responded with 13 unanswered runs on its way to a 13-4 victory over No. 5 seed Eastern Kentucky on Thursday at the OVC Baseball Championship.
Austin Peay (43-13), ranked No. 26 nationally, will advance to play with Tennessee Tech or Southeast Missouri on Friday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Kentucky (21-33) will fall into the loser’s bracket and play at 3 p.m. on Friday against a to-be-determined opponent.
The victory was the 13th in a row overall for the Governors this season and fourth-straight in OVC Tournament action.|
Two errors in the first inning led to two unearned runs for Govs starter Zach Hall. Hall (8-2) was able to overcome the defensive miscues and pitched 7.1 innings, scattering six hits and allowing three runs (one earned) while striking out six.
The Govs offense was able to overcome the deficit, scoring one run in the first inning, two runs in the second and another run in the sixth. The big inning for APSU came in the fifth inning when they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs to open up the game.
Reed Harper led the Govs with four hits and in the process set the Austin Peay career hits record, breaking the record Greg Bachman set a season ago. Michael Davis and Jordan Hankins each had three knocks apiece.
Myles Scott (3-3) took the loss for EKU, allowing nine runs (eight earned) in 4.2 innings of work.
#1 TENNESSEE TECH 5, #6 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
JACKSON, Tenn. - Tristan Archer tossed 8.1 strong innings as No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech topped No. 6 seed Southeast Missouri 5-1 in the final game of Day 2 of the 2013 OVC Baseball Championship.
Tennessee Tech (40-15) advances to play No. 2 seed Austin Peay on Friday at 7 p.m.; the winner of that game will advance to Saturday’s Championship Round. Southeast Missouri will play No. 3 seed Belmont on Friday morning at 11 a.m. in an elimination contest.
Both Tech and Austin Peay have 40 victories this season, marking only the second time in OVC history that has happened (Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee accomplished the feat in 1990).
The start was the 55th of Archer’s career, tying him with Middle Tennessee’s Chris Norton (1985-88) for the all-time OVC record. Archer (9-4) scattered seven hits and allowed just one run while striking out six. In the process he became TTU’s all-time wins leader (23).
Seth Lucio recorded the final two outs to pick up his 12th save of the season.
James Abraham, Zach Stephens and Austin Wulf each drove in two runs for the Golden Eagles.
Southeast Missouri got two hits apiece from Jason Blum and Nolan Fisher.