SATURDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 10, @Tennessee State 0 (5)
@Jacksonville State 6, Cleveland State 2
@Jacksonville State 5, Cleveland State 3
@SIUE 5, Murray State 4
TENNESSEE TECH 10, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The home double header to open Ohio Valley Conference versus Tennessee Tech was turned into a single game due to the potential of rain. The Tigers dropped a 10-0 contest in five innings to the visiting Golden Eagles.
TSU fell to 7-11 on the season and 0-1 in the OVC, while TTU improved to 12-10, 1-0.
Tech’s hurler, Danielle Liberatore, controlled the Tigers, allowing two hits and a walk as she fanned seven batters. Liberatore improved to 7-5 on the season.
Courtney Gearlds and Taylor Shimizu claimed the two hits off the TTU pitcher. Gearlds earned her knock to lead off the first, but was stranded on the first. Shimizu led off the third with a single to center, but was left on second after her fourth stolen base of the year.
Lauren Dreitlein was the only other Tiger to reach base. The junior college transfer earned a walk in her second plate appearance, to lead off the fourth.
TTU wasted no time jumping in front with five runs in the first. Tech took advantage of four hits and two Tiger errors to take the commanding lead. Anji Sakamoto opened the game with her first of two doubles. Olivia Bennett followed with a double to plate Sakamoto for the first run of the game.
Tech extended its lead to 7-0 in the second as Bennett drove a ball over the centerfield fence for a two-run home run. The Golden Eagles added a three spot in the fourth to provide the final margin.
Taylor Green fell to 5-4 on the year as she tossed all five innings. The junior surrendered seven earned runs, while picking up three strikeouts.
SIUE 5, MURRAY STATE 4
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - – Alex McDavid singled home the game winner in the bottom of the sixth as SIUE softball opened the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference season with a 5-4 victory Saturday over Murray State.
It also was the home opener for the Cougars, now 17-5 overall and 1-0 in the OVC. Due to the heavy rain in Edwardsville Friday, Saturday's schedule included just one game. Both SIUE and Murray State return to Cougar Field Sunday for a noon doubleheader.
McDavid finished the game with a team-leading three hits and two runs batted in. She also had an RBI single in the three-run third inning.
SIUE jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Haley Chambers, the game's starting pitcher, scored on a single to right field by Rachel Keller. The throw was ahead of Chambers' arrival to home, but the Cougar junior avoided the tag and was able to touch home for the first run.
McDavid then singled home Keller to make it 2-0. Brittany Toney delivered the knockout blow to Murray State starter Mason Robinson when she ripped a first-pitch single to left field.
Murray State, now 12-6 overall and 0-1 in the OVC, battled through the relief pitching of CheyAnne Gaskey who walked the first two batters she faced, including a bases-loaded pass to pinch-hitter Kelsey Hansen that put the Cougars up 3-0.
SIUE added a single tally in the fourth when Chambers walked and scored on a deep-center field triple by Jordan LaFave.
The Racers took advantage of an outfield error to score four unearned runs in the sixth inning. That included five hits against Chambers before Baylee Douglass entered the game to pitch the final out of the sixth.
The Cougars regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Gaskey walked Allison Smiley and Keller before yielding a single by McDavid that did not include a throw home.
SIUE left 11 runners on base, including at least one in every inning.
Douglass earned the win and improved to 6-2. Gaskey, who had eight walks, took the loss and is now 5-4.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 6, CLEVELAND STATE 2; JACKSONVILLE STATE 5, CLEVELAND STATE 3
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Whitney Gillespie helped carry and explosive Jacksonville State offense on her first day at University Field, homering twice and earning a save in a twinbill sweep of Cleveland State on Saturday.
Gillespie, a freshman from Pelham hit three of the Gamecocks (15-7) six homers in the doubleheader vs. the Vikings (12-7). They won game one 6-2 before completing their first home games of 2015 with a 5-2 win in the nightcap.
Gillespie was 3-for-6 after homering twice in the opener before going back-to-back with Cadi Oliver in the second game. In that finale, she tossed a perfect seventh inning to close the door on the Vikings' day.
Oliver, a junior from Sumiton, hit two homers in game two, while senior Sara Borders had a homer in a 3-for-6 day.
Sophomores Taylor West and Logan Green limited a potent CSU lineup that entered the day hitting .311. West allowed two runs on five hits in the opener, while Green gave up three runs on seven hits in the day's finale.
In the opener, the Vikings jumped on the Gamecocks with a two-run homer from Cynthia Woodard in the top of the first. West (4-2) held them in check the rest of the way to give the JSU offense a chance to work.
It didn't take the offense long to get going, starting with a Borders homer in the first and Gillespie's first homer of the day in the second. The solo shots tied the game before an RBI single from Savannah Sloan gave JSU its first lead in the third at 3-2. Borders followed with a two-run single that made it a 5-2 Gamecock lead in that third inning.
Gillespie's second homer of the day came in the bottom of the sixth and gave West another insurance run she wouldn't need.
The Anniston, Ala., native held a potent CSU lineup to just three hits after the first inning. She ended the game allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out four and walking three. She threw 101 pitches in her fourth complete game of the year.
Mackenzie Joecken (3-2) suffered the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits in her six-inning outing. The CSU starter didn't allow a walk and didn't record a strikeout.
Borders and Gillespie each went 2-for-3 to lead the Gamecock offense and account for half of JSU's hits.
JSU drew first blood in the second game, grabbing a first inning run on a wild pitch from CSU starter Alex Radjen.
Oliver belted her first homer of the game in the second inning, when she went down and lined a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left center to make it a 2-0 JSU lead. Gillespie and Oliver went back-to-back in the third, with Gillespie's two-run shot and Oliver's second solo blast giving the Gamecocks a 5-0 advantage.
Green held the Vikings to just one hit through the first three innings before a four-hit fourth pushed two runs across and cut the Gamecocks' lead to 5-2. Joecken cut into it by one more in the sixth with a solo shot to left.
A scoreless sixth set up Gillespie, who took over in the circle to toss a perfect seventh and grab her third save of the year.
The Gamecocks will travel to Birmingham on Tuesday to face UAB at 6 p.m. before opening Ohio Valley Conference play Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader vs. UT Martin at University Field.