SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 6, Western Michigan 1
Dayton 6,
Murray State 2 (Emerson, Ga.)
@Mercer 5,
Belmont 4 (11 innings)
Northern Illinois 18,
@Tennessee Tech 3
Jacksonville State 10, @Auburn 9
SIUE, @Arkansas-Little Rock (cancelled)
George Mason,
Morehead State (Lexington, S.C.) (cancelled)
Eastern Illinois at Arkansas (postponed)
AUSTIN PEAY 6, WESTERN MICHIGAN 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Sophomore starting pitcher Caleb Powell and an opportunistic Austin Peay State University baseball offense combined for a 6-1 victory against Western Michigan in foggy, misty conditions, Sunday, at Raymond C. Hand Park.
After four scoreless innings, Austin Peay (5-4) took advantage of a leadoff walk to third baseman Logan Gray’s double to put two runners in scoring position with two outs in the fifth. A passed ball allowed left fielder Cayce Bredlau to scamper home with the game’s first run. Austin Peay then executed a delayed double steal to perfection, Gray touching home plate to give APSU a 2-0 lead.
Powell (2-0) allowed just three baserunners in his first five scoreless innings. He was touched for a run in the sixth as Western Michigan posted back-to-back hits for the only time in the contest. Powell responded by allowing just one more base runner before departing after the seventh inning.
Powell held the Broncos to one run on six hits while striking out five in seven innings to become the first Govs pitcher to record two wins in 2015. Robles followed with two scoreless innings for his season’s second save.
Austin Peay added two more runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to help pad its lead. A balk and designated hitter Alex Robles’ RBI single provided the seventh inning’s tallies. Second baseman Garrett Copeland added to the lead with his two-run single in the eighth.
Copeland finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI and Robles was 2-for-3 with a RBI to lead the Govs nine-hit attack.
Western Michigan (5-4) was held to six hits by the Govs pitching staff. Catcher Brett Sunde went 2-for-4 with the RBI single to pace the Broncos offense.
WMU starter Tanner Allison suffered the loss after allowing two runs on two hits and five walks, but struck out seven batters in 4.2 innings.
DAYTON 6, MURRAY STATE 2
EMERSON, Ga. - A trio of two-run innings propelled the University of Dayton to a 6-2 victory Sunday over the Murray State baseball team in the series finale down in Emerson, Ga. UD won the series 2-1.
Dayton (3-6) jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Racers (3-7) with two runs in the first and third innings. The Murray State offense came to life a bit in the fourth with a Dalton West solo home run to right center field. The solo shot was West’s first homer of the season.
MSU cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fifth on a Nick Moore double to the gap that scored Derek Yoder from first. The Racer bats went mostly silent the final three innings as they collected just three singles the rest of the game. UD added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to lengthen its advantage.
The Flyers out-hit the Racers 11-6 in the game while Tyler Lawrence was the only Racer with multiple hits in the loss.
Brandon Hicks took the loss for MSU in his first career start. Hicks pitched 0.2 innings and allowed one hit and walked a batter while allowing two unearned runs. John Lollar, Cody Maerz, John Rafferty and Andrew Bramley all pitched in relief. Maerz had his best outing of the season for the Racers as he pitched 3.2 strong innings and allowed no hits while recording two strikeouts.
MERCER 5, BELMONT 4 (11)
MACON, Ga. - The Bruins fell to the Bears 4-5 in extra innings on Sunday at Claude Smith Field.
Starting on the mound for the Bruins was lefty Dan Ludwig (Naperville, Tenn.). Ludwig pitched 6.1 innings on the mound and allowed only 1 run on 4 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 7 batters, a 2015 season personal best. Relieving Ludwig was Chase Cunningham (Bluff City, Tenn.) who pitches 0.2 innings. Cunningham struck out 2/5 batters he faced. Closing out the game, pitching 2.2 innings was lefty Matthew Kinney (Alpharetta, Ga.). Kinney struck out three batters and allowed one run on two hits.
Similar to prior games, the Bruins started with an early lead. Leadoff hitter, Alec Diamond (Kennesaw, Ga.) stepped up to the plate with a single straight up the middle to fire up the bats for the Bruins. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. Drew Ferguson (Knoxville, Tenn.) flied out to right field to which Diamond advanced a base. With runner on third, Matt Beaty (Dresden, Tenn.) grounded out to second base to plate Diamond. Bruins led 1-0 in the first inning.
The Bears held the Bruins scoreless in the second, but came back in the top of the third with Drake Byrd's (Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) single to left field. Diamond followed Byrd with another single to left field. Beaty stepped up to the plate and drew a walk to load the Bases for the Bruins. Tyler Fullerton (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) hit a single to center field to plate Byrd and Diamond. This is Fullerton's 11th RBI, a team high. Beaty stayed aggressive on the bases and stole second but was left stranded.
Two more scoreless innings for the Bruins before they entered the top of the sixth, Beaty draws a leadoff walk, followed by another walk before a pitching change for the Bears.The Bears new pitcher leads with another walk to load the bases. Brennan Washington (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) reaches first on an error by the short stop to plate Beaty. Bruins now lead 4-1 after the 6th.
The Bears came back and tied up the game in the 8th at 4-4 with a leadoff walk and the second batter hitting a two run homerun. Next batter up singled to left center, followed by a hit by pitch. Runners advance on a sacrifice bunt. Runner on third scores on a groundout to first base, the run scored tied the game as the Bruins headed into extra innings.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 18, TENNESSEE TECH 3
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech baseball team couldn't overcome three big innings by Northern Illinois Sunday afternoon, falling to the Huskies in the series' rubber match by a final score of 18-3.
The Golden Eagles took an early 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the third inning, grabbing the lead off a single down the third base line by Josh Pankratz. But the tables turned quickly.
Northern Illinois answered with five straight innings of scoring including four in the fourth and the fifth and seven in the seventh. As a whole, the Huskies managed 21 hits on the day.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Flick seemed to give the Golden Eagles some life in the bottom of the fifth stanza, hammering a two-run double to the wall in center field. The two runs shrunk the Tech lead to 8-3, but the Huskies answered with a run in the sixth and a huge seventh inning.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 10, AUBURN 9
AUBURN, Ala. - The Jacksonville State baseball team overcame a late three-run deficit to post a 10-9 win over Auburn on Sunday at Plainsman Park.
The Gamecocks (6-3) finished the weekend with a pair of wins on The Plains as they topped Western Illinois on Saturday night.
JSU needed a pair of three-run comebacks as AU plated three runs in the opening frame and after JSU erased that deficit, found itself behind again late in the game after the Tigers scored four runs in the fifth. After falling behind 9-6 after six innings, Jax State was selective at the plate in the eighth as it scored a pair of runs on back-to-back walks by Tiger pitching. JSU took advantage of AU's pitching staff allowing 12 walks as the Tigers used seven different pitchers.
JSU's Paschal Petrongolo led the offense with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, including the single to start the scoring in the eighth. The Blackwood, New Jersey-native reached base all six times at the plate with a pair of walks. He drove in a pair of runs in the win.
After AU touched JSU starter Jake Walsh with three runs, the Gamecocks took the lead with a five-run second inning. The Red and White touched three AU hurlers for four hits in the inning, highlighted by a pair of singles by Daniel Clayton and Petrongolo.
Daniel finished the day with a pair of hits, while Taylor Hawthorne had multi-hit games. Ryan Sebra matched Petrongolo with three hits, including a late double.
After surrendering 12 hits by Walsh and Graham Officer, Joe McGuire and Grant Chandler limited AU's offense to just three hits. Chandler, from Madison, Alabama, picked up his first career win.
Senior Travis Stout, who picked up his second save of the weekend and his 34th career save. He now is one save shy of matching the Ohio Valley Conference record of 35 career saves, held by former Austin Peay stopper, Tyler Rogers (2012-13).