FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 12, Belmont 1
Jacksonville State 8, @Eastern Illinois 2
Southeast Missouri 13, @UT Martin 0
@SIUE 3, Tennessee Tech 1
@Evansville 8,
Eastern Kentucky 2
MOREHEAD STATE 12, BELMONT 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior right fielder Brandon Rawe clobbered two home runs and freshman right-hander Luke Humphreys allowed just one run in 6.2 innings to help the Morehead State baseball team post a 12-2 win over Belmont on Friday afternoon at Allen Field.
The Eagles, who have won three of their last four Ohio Valley Conference contests, improve to 12-13 overall, 5-5 in league play and 4-4 at home. The Bruins, who have dropped nine straight affairs, drop to 7-18 overall, 0-7 in conference action and 0-6 on the road.
Rawe, who became the first Morehead State player to crush two long balls in a game since April 21, 2012, finished 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. He opened MSU's three-run fourth with a solo shot and highlighted its four-run fifth with a three-run roundtripper.
Morehead State collected 16 hits, which matched its second-best output this season. The Eagles recorded at least one back knock in six of their eight at-bats.
Rawe, junior second baseman Tyler Bigler (3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI), junior catcher Chris Robinson (2-for-3, 2 R), senior third baseman Jeff Birkofer (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and junior shortstop Robby Spencer (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI) all posted multi-hit performances for MSU.
Morehead State held a 7-0 lead after six innings. Belmont tallied its first run in the seventh, but the Eagles stormed back with five insurance runs in the eighth.
Humphreys yielded just six hits and three walks while striking out seven for his first collegiate win. He faced 29 batters and fired 102 pitches before giving way to the Morehead State bullpen. Sophomore right-hander Matt Ellenbest notched the final seven outs.
The Bruins managed eight hits, but stranded 12 runners. Junior left-hander Dan Ludwig was pinned with his fifth loss and is still looking for his first win in 2014. He allowed seven runs, all earned, 10 hits and two bases on balls while fanning six in six innings.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 8, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Jacksonville State head baseball coach picked up his 400th career win on Friday as the Gamecocks claimed an 8-2 Ohio Valley Conference win at Eastern Illinois on Friday afternoon.
Case has a 400-324 career record in his 13th season at Jacksonville State and is the winningest coach in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 181-90 record against conference opponents.
Senior Adam Polk (1-0) scattered six hits and had three strikeouts to earn his first win of the season, while Bradley Raulston picked up his first save of the season after allowing one hit over the final three innings. Jake Johansmeier gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innnings to suffer the loss for the Panthers.
Jax State (15-10, 7-3 OVC) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning after Tyler Gamble had a RBI double and Michael Bishop added another run with a RBI single to give JSU the early lead.
The Gamecocks added a run in the fourth after Stephen Bartlett walked and stole second before Andrew Bishop followed with a double to left center to give JSU a 3-0 lead.
Jacksonville State scored three more runs in the fifth inning after Eddie Mora-Loera extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double, and later came in to score on an EIU error. Tyler Gamble then drove in two more runs with a single to left field as JSU built a 6-0 lead.
The Panthers scored a run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI by Caleb Howell, but the Gamecocks got the run back in the sixth after Bishop scored on a wild pitch for a 7-1 lead.
Bartlett led off the seventh inning with a solo home run to right field for an 8-1 lead, before EIU's Demetre Taylor hit a solo homer in the eighth inning for the final margin.
Andrew Bishop, Bartlett, Mora-Loera and Gamble each had a pair of hits to lead the Gamecocks, while Gamble led the team with three RBI. EIU was led by Tyler Schweigert's two hits.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 13, UT MARTIN 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri baseball put on an offensive show in game one of their three-game Ohio Valley Conference series with UT Martin (3-20, 2-8 OVC) as the Redhawks shutout the Skyhawks 13-0 Friday. Southeast hit three home runs in the contest. The Redhawks improve to 15-10, 8-2 in OVC play.
Dalton Hewitt put the Redhawks on the board in the third inning with his first collegiate home run. He drove the ball to right center field. With Cole Bieser on second, Matt Tellor hit a double to right, scoring Bieser. Derek Gibson knocked the Redhawks' second home run of the inning over the left center wall to put Southeast ahead 4-0.
Southeast went way out in front with a six-spot in the sixth inning. All with one out, Andy Lack started the scoring with an RBI single to right to score Scott Mitchell. The second run of the inning came on a delayed double steal as Lack took second and Hewitt swiped home. Lack scored on a single from Jason Blum, who took second on the throw back to the infield. UT Martin then went to their bullpen to pull starter Taylor Cox. Without throwing a single pitch, Blum fooled the new pitcher, forcing Chris Flores to throw the ball in to foul territory on a failed pickoff attempt and allowing Blum to score. With bases empty and still one out, BIeser singled and Tellor was hit by a pitch. Gibson doubled down the right field line to score Bieser. With Tellor on third, Andy Lennington hit a sacrifice fly to allow Tellor to tag and score. Southeast was way out in front 10-0 going to the bottom of the sixth.
With two out and Lack and Blum on base in the seventh inning, Tellor drove a ball way out of the park to put the Redhawks ahead 13-0.
In total, five bench players saw a good amount of time in the game.
Southeast outhit the Skyhawks 14-8 in the shutout.
Bieser led the team in hits Friday with a 3-for-6 performance and two runs scored. Tellor, Gibson, and Hewitt, each had two hits in the contest, all with a home run. Tellor finished with four RBI and Gibson had three of his own. Lack was 1-for-2 with two runs scored, an RBI and three walks.
Tyler Iago (4-1) was superb in seven complete scoreless innings. Iago gave up seven hits, struck out 10 batters, and walked none. Garret Stockton and Perry Middleton each pitched an inning in relief.
Leadoff hitter Drew Erie was 3-for-4 Friday for UT Martin to lead the Skyhawk offense.
Cox (0-6) recorded the loss. Cox was credited with eight runs on 10 hits. Three relief pitchers were used out of the Skyhawk bullpen in the game.
SIUE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Ryan Daniels fired his first career complete game Friday night as SIUE defeated Tennessee Tech 3-1 in the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series at Simmons Baseball Complex. The win keeps the Cougars in first place in the OVC.
SIUE improved to 8-2 in the OVC and 10-13 overall. The Cougars remained tied for first with Southeast Missouri, which defeated UT Martin Friday. Tennessee Tech dropped to 21-6 overall and 6-4 in the OVC.
Daniels used 101 pitches to go the distance. He allowed a run on five hits and struck out five, including TTU's Jordan Parris with two runners on base to end the game.
With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth, the Cougars strung together three consecutive two-out hits to take the 3-1 lead. Nick Lombardo roped a double to left center and then scored on Denton Reed's RBI single to put the Cougars in front 2-1.
Reed scored from first on an RBI double by Chase Green to make it 3-1.
Tech's only run came in the third inning. Anthony El Chibani tripled with one out and then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Parris to put the Golden Eagles up 1-0.
The Cougars tied the game in the sixth inning against TTU starter David Hess. Jacob Stewart walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lombardo. Reed followed with an RBI single down the right field line to make it 1-1.
Reed finished 2 for 3 with the pair of RBIs.
Hess (5-1) also tossed a complete game for Tennessee Tech. He allowed all three runs on five hits. He struck out five.
EVANSVILLE 8, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - After allowing runs in each of the first four innings, the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team lost 8-2 at the University of Evansville on Friday.
The Purple Aces (14-8) scored in each of the first four innings, including three runs in the fourth to take an 8-0 lead. Kyle Pollock capped the scoring for UE with a two-run double down the left field line.
The Colonels (11-14) scored a run each in the seventh and ninth innings to cut into the lead. Doug Teegarden’s ground ball was enough to score Taylor Blair in the seventh. Kenny Hostrander had an RBI double in the ninth.
Kyle Freeland (4-1) kept the EKU offense in check for eight innings. He allowed one run on five hits while striking out 10 batters. Tanner Perkins (2-4) suffered the loss after giving up eight runs on 11 hits in five innings. Freshman Alex Hamilton came on in relief and held Evansville scoreless over the final three innings. He allowed only two hits, walked one and struck out three.
Sean Hagen went 2-for-4 for Eastern Kentucky. Luke Wurzelbacher was 2-for-4 and scored a run. Jake Mahon had three hits in five at bats and scored three times for the Purple Aces. Pollock and Boomer Synek each drove in two runs.