TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Arkansas-Little Rock 1,
Southeast Missouri 0
Tennessee Tech 9, @Middle Tennessee 5
Southern Illinois 14,
@Austin Peay 4
@Belmont 7, Western Kentucky 3
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 1, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Southeast Missouri baseball team fell to UALR Tuesday evening in a game lacking offense on both sides. UALR (4-0) shutout the Redhawks (2-2), 1-0.
The lone run of the game came in the first inning by way of good, old-fashioned small ball. Ben Crumpton led-off with a double off the wall in center field. Crumpton advanced on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Austin Pfeiffer.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Redhawks loaded the bases with one out but came up short as Jason Blum grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Southeast out-hit the Trojans 4-3 in the contest. Redhawk hits came from Cole Bieser, Cole Ferguson, Andy Lennington, and Dalton Hewitt. Blum drew the only Redhawk walk in the game.
Crumpton was responsible for two of UALR's three hits with the other one coming off the bat of Bryce Thionnet.
Alex Winkelman (0-1) suffered the loss but pitched spectacularly. Winkelman went 5.0 innings, giving up UALR's one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out five, two short of a career-high for the sophomore.
The Redhawks bullpen was also stellar Tuesday evening. Travis Hayes pitched two innings, retiring all six batters he faced, three of which came by way of strikeouts. Greg Mosel saw his third appearance of the season, pitching 1.0 innings, while only giving up only a walk. Together, both pitchers combined for a no-hitter in 3.0 innings.
UALR starter Chad Bradford (1-0) recorded his first win of the season while Brent Mason picked up a save for the Trojans.
TENNESSEE TECH 9, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 5
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - It took two rallies to get the job done, but the Tennessee Tech baseball team (3-1) prevailed over in-state rival Middle Tennessee (1-3) Tuesday afternoon, defeating the Blue Raiders 9-5 in Murfreesboro.
Senior Brandon Thomasson led the Tech offense, cracking out two long balls on the day while recording three RBI. He finished the contest going 3-for-5 and three runs scored. Catcher Jordan Parris added two RBI as well, ripping an RBI double and collecting a bases-loaded walk.
Junior right-hander Jacob Honea picked up his first win of the season, tossing three innings of shut-out relief for freshman starter Evan Fraliex.
Middle Tennessee jumped off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first thanks to two triples and a sacrifice fly. Fraliex then set aside his jitters, blanking the Blue Raiders over the next three innings.
The Golden Eagles cut the MTSU lead in half in the top of the second after Thomasson crushed one of his two home runs in the contest just inside the left field foul pole. Three innings later, the Tech squad struck again, this time taking over the lead.
In the top of the fifth, junior Jordan Hopkins patiently drew a walk on a full count. Two batters later, Parris drilled his double down the left field line, scoring Hopkins and evening things up at 2-2. With two outs, Dylan Bosheers reached base on a throwing error that scored Parris and allowed the shortstop to advance to second and set up slugger Zach Stephens with a runner in scoring position.
The senior wasn't given a chance to attack as the Blue Raiders decided to intentionally walk the first baseman. A passed ball on the third pitch of the at-bat did manage to move Bosheers over to third base, setting up senior Daniel Miles with a chance to extend the lead. The third baseman came through, singling down the left field line to give Tech a 4-2 advantage.
The Blue Raiders answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs after loading the bases with no outs against Tech's freshman starter. Honea replaced Frazier, limiting the damage to three runs, but Middle Tennessee had achieved what they had hoped. MTSU grabbed a 5-4 advantage and look well on its way to a home-opening victory.
But the Golden Eagles answered the call once again, rallying a second time in the eighth and adding insurance runs in the ninth. Miles and Thomasson each managed infield singles to kickstart the top of the eighth inning before using a single through the right side by center fielder Jake Rowland to load the bases.
Hopkins came to plate, forcing Middle Tennessee to pitch its way out of trouble. Instead, he induced an RBI walk to tie the game at 5-5. Parris followed suit, garnering his own RBI walk to give Tech the lead for good. Leadoff man Zach Zarzour got plunked by a pitch on the next Blue Raider effort, scoring the Golden Eagles' first insurance run to up the lead to 7-5.
MTSU escaped the inning with no further damage and a glimmer of hope for a comeback of its own, but Thomasson and Tech closer Seth Lucio shut the door on those hopes.
Thomasson launched his second dinger of the game in the top of the ninth, blasting a two-run shot to right center field. Lucio entered the contest in the bottom half to finish the comeback effort and give Tech its 9-5 victory.
Both Thomasson and Miles collected three-hit games for the Tech squad and Stephens added a multi-hit game of his own, going 2-for-4 at the dish.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 14, AUSTIN PEAY 4
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s baseball team led after three innings but lost its offensive touch in the final six frames and dropped a 14-4 non-conference decision to Southern Illinois, Tuesday afternoon at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Austin Peay (1-3) scored in each of the first three innings. Third baseman Alex Robles’ first collegiate home run tied the game, 1-1, in the first. In the second, shortstop Logan Gray drove in the Govs second run when he beat out a close play at first to prevent an inning-ending double play, giving APSU a 2-1 lead.
The Govs had a golden opportunity in the third when the first three batters were walked to load the bases. Southern Illinois countered with a change of pitchers and reliever Matt Murphy promptly got the next two Govs hitters to foul out. However, left fielder Tommy Hager kept the opportunity from getting away from the Govs, belting a two-run double into left field and giving APSU a 4-2 lead.
However, the Salukis bullpen held the Govs at bay the game’s remainder. Robles’ one-out single in the fourth would be Austin Peay’s final hit of the contest. In fact, Austin Peay put just seven balls in play over the final six innings. Adding insult to injury, 12 of the Govs 16 strikeouts in the contest came during the final six innings.
Southern Illinois (2-2) saw its offense start rolling in the fifth inning. Right fielder Donny Duschinsky hit a three-run home run to give SIU a 5-4 lead and they were off to the races. First baseman Cody Daily hit a solo home run in a three-run seventh inning. Designated hitter Ryan Casillas added a three-run home run in a four-run eighth inning. The Salukis added a pair of runs in the ninth courtesy an Austin Peay error to close the game’s scoring.
Robles had the Govs lone multi-hit outing, finishing the night 2-for-4 with an RBI. Hager and second baseman Garrett Copeland each went 1-for-3 for the Govs only other hits in a four-hit outing.
Daily led Southern Illinois with a 3-for-3, two RBI performance. Duschinsky went 2-for-4 with four RBI and third baseman Ryan Rosthenhausler had three hits. Southern Illinois finished with 12 hits in the contest.
Austin Peay starter Caleb Powell allowed two runs in four innings but did not factor into the decision. Reliever Zach Walton (0-1) followed him and allowed three runs while recording two outs and was tagged for the loss. Austin Peay used seven pitchers in the contest.
Murphy (1-0) picked up the win after tossing two scoreless innings. Saluki starter Connor McFadden allowed four runs on two hits and five walks over two-plus innings but was absolved of the potential loss.
BELMONT 7, WESTERN KENTUCKY 3
NASHVILLE - Behind two home runs from Drew Ferguson and a three-run eighth inning, Belmont Baseball (3-1) took down Western Kentucky, 7-3 Tuesday at Rose Park.
Ferguson hit a leadoff single and scored the first Belmont run after a stolen base and a pair of WKU defensive miscues. An RBI single from Drake Byrd in the second put the Bruins ahead 2-0 before Ferguson's third inning home run extended the Bruins lead, 3-0.
A pair of walks to start the fourth sparked a three-run inning for the Hilltoppers, tying the game at 3-3.
Ferguson led off the bottom of the seventh with his second homer of the game to put Belmont ahead 4-3.
The Bruins added three more runs in the eighth, securing their win.
In his first start of the season, James Buckelew recorded a new career-high with seven strikeouts through six innings of work. The left-hander gave up just two hits.
Christopher Carroll earned his first collegiate win after two innings of relief. The freshman right-hander struck out five.