SUNDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 10, @Belmont 2
SIUE 8, @Murray State 0
@Southeast Missouri 7, Morehead State 1
@Tennessee Tech 2, UT Martin 0
@Eastern Illinois 15, IPFW 8
EASTERN KENTUCKY 10, BELMONT 2
NASHVILLE - Behind the pitching of freshman Caleb Johnson and the hitting of seniors Sean Hagen and Bryan Soloman, the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Belmont University with a 10-2 victory on Sunday.
Johnson (2-0) held the Bruins scoreless over six innings. He allowed four hits, walked five and struck out six. Hagen finished 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Soloman had two hits in three at bats, scored twice, walked once and drove in a run.
EKU (11-13, 4-5 OVC) grabbed the lead early, going up 1-0 in the top of the first on Luke Wurzelbacher’s sacrifice fly. The Colonels scored in each of the first three innings. Soloman’s RBI double to center and another sacrifice fly by Wurzelbacher in the third put the visitors in front 4-0.
Hagen hit a solo home run in the fifth, his fifth of the season. Matt Beaty got Belmont (7-16, 0-6 OVC) on the board and cut the deficit to 6-1 with a run scoring single in the seventh. Eastern pulled away with four runs in the eighth. Kyle Nowlin highlighted the inning with a two-run single to center.
Nowlin had a 2-for-5 day with three RBIs. Beaty went 2-for-3 with two walks, a run and an RBI. Belmont’s Matt Kinney finished 3-for-3.
Patrick McGrath (1-4) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on four hits in three innings. He walked two and struck out five.
SIUE 8, MURRAY STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Three SIUE pitchers combined to shut out Murray State as SIUE baseball swept the three-game Ohio Valley Conference series with an 8-0 win Sunday at Reagan Field.
SIUE improved to 7-2 in the OVC and is tied for first in the league with Southeast Missouri. The Cougars are 9-12 overall. Murray State dropped to 4-5 in OVC play and also is 9-12 overall.
Jake Stauffenberg, Jarrett Bednar, and Mike Miller allowed just six hits, struck out nine, and did not walk a hitter to combine for the first shutout of the year.
Stauffenberg improved to 1-3 with seven dominant innings. He allowed five hits and struck out a career-high seven hitters. Stauffenberg retired the first 11 hitters he faced for the game. Five of his seven strikeouts came to end an inning.
Bednar (8th) and Miller (9th) each tossed an inning of scoreless relief and each picked up a single strikeout in the process.
The Cougars tagged 'Breds starter Cody Maerz with six runs over the first four innings, including three runs in the top of the first inning.
Maerz (1-4) allowed four earned runs on six hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Skyler Geissinger drove in a pair with a sacrifice fly air with a bases-loaded double in the top of the first inning. Alec Saikal added a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-0 SIUE. Saikal added an RBI-single in a two-run third inning. Chase Green picked up his eighth RBI of the series with a fourth inning double to put the Cougars up 5-0.
Geissinger was 3 for 4 with the pair of RBIs. Green was 3 for 5 with the RBI and a run scored. Green was 6 for 13 (.462) with eight RBIs and three runs scored for the series.
Saikal delivered a one-out, bases loaded double to drive home two in the ninth inning to push the lead to 8-0. Saikal finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs to lead the Cougars.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 7, MOREHEAD STATE 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Junior pitcher Travis Hayes headlined a Redhawks 7-1 victory over Morehead State (11-12, 4-5 OVC) Sunday. Southeast avoided the sweep by the Eagles after dropping the first two games of the series. Southeast Missouri holds on to first place in the Ohio Valley Conference as they improve to 14-9, 7-2 in league play.
Hayes (3-0) pitched seven complete innings, allowing only one run on three hits. Between the second and sixth innings, Hayes retired 14 of 16 batters he faced, allowing only two base runners, both on walks, in the sixth inning.
Morehead scored their lone run in the first inning. Ryan Kent drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Rawe.
The Redhawks tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Jason Blum drew a leadoff walk of his own, was awarded second base on a balk by Willie Sligh, then scored on an RBI single by Dalton Hewitt to tie the game at one run each after the opening stanza.
The Redhawks scored three runs in the fourth and sixth innings to secure the win.
With runners on the corners in the fourth, Andy Lennington doubled down the left field line to drive Matt Tellor in from third. With Scott Mitchell parked on third, Andy Lack grounded out to the second baseman to advance Mitchell home and Lennington to third. Clayton Evans scored Lennington with a single to left. Southeast was up 4-1 after four innings.
Tellor and Mitchell each singled to right to kick off the sixth inning. They both advanced on a sac bunt from Lennington. Lack hit a dribbler to the left side that the fielder threw home in an attempt to get Tellor at home; Tellor snuck a hand around the tag to score on Lack's RBI fielder's choice. With two runners on, a costly two-out throwing error by the shortstop allowed Mitchell and Lack to both score, putting the Redhawks out in front 7-1.
After being held to a run and three hits in game two, Southeast Missouri returned the favor in the series finale as Morehead had only three hits in the game. The Redhawks had eight hits of their own.
Mitchell claimed three of Southeast's eight hits after going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Tellor was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Lack was 0-for-2 with two RBI, two walks, and two stolen bases.
Nick Newell, Chris Robinson, and Bobby Burns were the only Eagles with hits Sunday.
Sligh (0-2) was the loser for Morehead after giving up four runs on five hits in four and two thirds innings.
TENNESSEE TECH 2, UT MARTIN 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It wasn't quite a no-hitter, but junior Chris Chism did more than enough to lead the Tennessee Tech baseball team to its 19th victory Sunday afternoon, tossing a complete-game shutout and allowing just one hit over nine innings to help the Golden Eagles blank UT Martin, 2-0.
A transfer from St. Petersburg College, Chism was as good as it gets against the Skyhawks, dominating from beginning to end. The right hander struck out a career-high 10 batters while surrendering no walks and allowing just four runners on base all day. Chism hit three batters and gave up a double in the seventh inning.
Even with a small margin of victory, the Golden Eagles truly dominated the entire contest, seeing some bad luck prevent more runs from crossing as Tech unleashed the bats for 10 hits and five walks. The Skyhawks came up clutch in several situations, stranding 10 Golden Eagle runners in scoring position and 11 on base in the game.
The Tech squad managed to scrape runs across both the fourth and fifth innings, using an RBI off the bat of senior Zach Zarzour to score the deciding run. With the bases loaded and one out, Zarzour ripped a ball towards the right field line. UT Martin first baseman Taylor Cox made a heck of a play, stabbing the ball and taking it to first base for a sure out. But his throw home to try and get Tyler Brazelton at the plate came too late as Tech jumped to a 1-0 lead.
Tech doubled its lead in the next frame, using a leadoff single by third baseman Daniel Miles to start things off. After stealing second, Miles came all the way around off the strength of an RBI single by slugger Zach Stephens.
Chism had his repetroire working well during the contest, keeping the UT Martin batters off balance with an array of pitches. The junior became just the sixth Golden Eagle to toss a one-hitter in the program's history, and the second to do it in at least nine innings. The nine-inning feat had not been accomplished since 1975 when Ralph Mallicoat did it against Milligan College.
Miles kept his impressive hot streak running with a 2-for-3 day at the dish, extending his hitting streak to 10 games and improving his team-leading batting average to .444. Shortstop Dylan Bosheers went 2-for-4 on the day, upping his average to .402 for the season.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 15, IPFW 8
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois used an 11-run seventh inning to post a 15-8 come from behind victory over the IPFW baseball team in the series finale between two schools on Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers improve to 6-17 overall and the Mastodons drop to 5-14. EIU won the weekend series, 2-1, after winning the series opener on Friday evening, 10-5. IPFW won game two on Saturday by a score of 14-3.
Trailing 7-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Panthers scored 11 runs on eight hits and one error to take a 15-7 advantage. Five different players collected an RBI in the inning, highlighted by a grand slam by Cameron Berra.
Greg Kaiser hit a two-out, RBI single up the middle in the top of the eighth inning to get IPFW within seven (15-8) before the EIU pitching staff retired the final four Mastodon batters to conclude the game.
The Mastodons took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Panther tied the game in the next inning on a Dane Sauer sacrifice fly. IPFW scored six runs in the third inning on three hits and one error to take a 7-1 advantage. EIU added a run in the bottom of the frame and two more runs in the fourth inning to get within three (7-4).
EIU had six more hits (15-9) than IPFW and left four more runners on base (8-4). The Panthers also had one more error (2-1) in the contest.
Five Panthers had multiple hits in the game, led by Sauer who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and run. Five players also drove in multiple runs, led by Berra who had four RBI.
Ben Kennedy (1-1) posted the win for EIU as the senior pitcher threw three strikeouts and allowed three hits and one run in two innings of relief. Joe Greenfield made the start and went six innings while surrendering six hits and seven runs (two earned) in six innings of action.
Kevin Kimball (2-3) took the loss for IPFW, allowing eight runs (two earned) and five hits in 0.2 innings of relief. Steve Danielak started the game and walked four batters and surrendered five hits and four runs in three innings of play.
Kaiser led the Mastodons at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three RBI and run. Kevin Wirth added two hits, a run and two RBI.