WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Middle Tennessee 5,
Austin Peay 0
@Western Kentucky 13,
Belmont 3
SIUE 11, Quincy 2
Jacksonville State 2, @#23 Mississippi State 1
Northern Kentucky
at Morehead State (cancelled)
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 5, AUSTIN PEAY 0
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s baseball team suffered through a lackluster night, both offensively and defensively, and dropped a 5-0 nonconference decision to Middle Tennessee, Wednesday, at Reese Smith Field.
Austin Peay (18-28) could not get its bats going, recording just four hits en route to suffering its fourth shutout of the 2014 campaign. The Govs had key opportunities in the second and third innings but were left wanting each time.
APSU saw the first two batters in the second reach base and move into scoring position, but a pair of strikeouts helped deny the Govs a run. Second baseman Garrett Copeland led off the third with a double, but was cut down at home on an infield hit by right fielder Rolando Gautier.
Gautier’s hit would be the last Austin Peay would record until the eighth inning. Middle Tennessee pitching would retire 15 of 16 batters in that span, allowing only a hit batsman in the fifth. The Blue Raiders would strike out 13 Austin Peay batters in the contest.
Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee (23-21) was able to take advantage of three Austin Peay errors in the first four innings to score its five runs. A fielding error in the first allowed a run to score. Two innings later it was a throwing error in the infield that permitted the game’s second run. In the fourth, it was an outfield miscue that allowed a runner to reach and led to a three-run inning.
After that rough fourth inning, Austin Peay’s bullpen shut down the Middle Tennessee offense, retiring 10 consecutive batters until surrendering a two-out single in the eighth. That single was quickly wiped out as the Govs defense turned its third double play of the game.
Austin Peay starter Levi Primasing (2-4) was tagged for the unearned run in the first – the only inning he pitched – and suffered the loss.
Second baseman Garrett Copeland paced the Govs offense with a 1-for-2 outing. He reached base in each of his first three plate appearances: walking to start the game, hitting a double in the third and being hit by a pitch in the fifth.
Middle Tennessee starter Nathan Foriest (1-5) notched his season’s first win with three shutout innings, allowing three hits while striking out five.
Shortstop Dustin Delgado – brother of Govs alumnus Casey Delgado – went 2-for-3 with one RBI and three runs scored.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 13, BELMONT 3
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Bruins fell to Western Kentucky, 13-3 Wednesday night at Nick Denes Field.
Belmont jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first after Drew Ferguson singled to right. Jamie Ritchie reached on a WKU error, allowing Ferguson to cross the plate. Western Kentucky responded in the bottom half with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead.
The Hilltoppers took a 4-1 lead after scoring two runs behind a pair of leadoff bunt singles. Nick Egli's RBI double drove home Ferguson in the third, cutting Belmont's deficit to two runs. WKU extended their lead to 5-2 behind a RBI double in the bottom half.
WKU plated five runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to make it a 12-2 game. Alec Diamond led off the seventh with a single followed by a double from Ferguson. Diamond came home behind Ritchie's RBI groundout.
The Toppers' Clint Hardy hit a solo homer in the eighth to put WKU ahead, 13-3.
SIUE 11, QUINCY 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Jacob Stewart and Chase Green each drove in a pair of runs Wednesday night as SIUE defeated Quincy 11-2 in nonconference baseball at Simmons Baseball Complex.
The Cougars evened their home record to 10-10 with the win. SIUE is 16-26 overall. Quincy fell to 22-25 overall.
Stewart was 3 for 4 with the pair of RBIs coming on a single with the bases loaded in the seventh. He also stole two bases and scored a run. Green finished with a single and a double. He walked with the bases load in the seventh and drove in another run with a groundout in the eighth. Green also stole two bases. Alec Saikal and Devin Caldwell each had two hits for SIUE. Caldwell drove in a run with double in the
Mike Miller (1-3) earned the win tossing a career-high 6 2/3 innings. He allowed a pair of runs in the first inning before settling down. He struck out two.
Ari Harris was 3 for 4 to lead the Hawks. Jason O'Brien (0-5) started and allowed four runs on eight hits in the loss.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 2, #23 MISSISSIPPI STATE 1
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Griff Gordon scored on a Ryan Sebra safety squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to lead Jacksonville State to a 2-1 win over No. 23 Mississippi State on Wednesday night at Dudy Noble Field in front of 6,689 fans.
It marks the third straight win by the Gamecocks over a nationally ranked opponent as JSU improves to 24-19 overall, while Mississippi State falls to 28-18 overall.
Graham Officer (2-0) allowed just one hit in an inning of relief to pick up his second win of the season, while Travis Stout had two strikeouts in the ninth inning to earn his 10th save of the year. Six JSU pitchers limited the Bulldogs to only four hits. Jacob Lindgren (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up the winning run for Mississippi State.
Mississippi State took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning after Alex Detz hit a solo home run down the right field line to score the first run of the game.
Jacksonville State answered in the top of the eighth inning after Andrew Bishop led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. Joe McGuire followed with a hard grounder to first to allow Bishop to move to third, and then Bishop was able to score on a Bulldog wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1.
Officer came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and gave up a single to Matthew Britton to lead off the inning, but Stephen Bartlett threw out Britton on a stolen base attempt for the first out of the inning. Officer then got the next two outs to end the Bulldog scoring threat.
Gordon got the ninth inning rally started with a one-out walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Gordon then moved to third on a wild pitch before Tyler Gamble walked as the Bulldogs made a pitching change by bringing in preseason All-American relief pitcher Jonathan Holder.
Sebra then laid down a perfect bunt to the right side that Holder fielded and thew home as Gordon slide in well before the tag to give the Gamecocks the win.
Michael Bishop and Andrew Bishop each had two hits as the Gamecocks finished the night with four hits.