WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 7, @Marshall 1
@Saint Louis 6,
UT Martin 5
Southeast Missouri 12, @Arkansas 11
@Alabama State 3,
Jacksonville State 1
@Evansville 15,
Murray State 2
MOREHEAD STATE 7, MARSHALL 1
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Junior lefthander Patrick McGuff and freshman righty Brent Stoneking combined to allow Marshall just four hits as the Morehead State baseball team defeated the Thundering Herd 7-1 at the Kennedy Center YMCA Field Wednesday.
Morehead State, which knocked off the 'Herd for the second straight season, improved to 11-7 overall and 7-2 on the road. Marshall dipped to 6-13 overall and 0-1 at its facility in Huntington.
McGuff (1-0), a transfer from Sinclair (Ohio) Community College collected his first Division I victory by surrendering four hits and striking out five in six innings. Stoneking, who prepped at nearby George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester, Ky., garnered his career save by facing the minimum nine batters in the final three frames.
Morehead State's offense notched 10 hits off seven pitchers. Senior left-fielder Chris Robinson and sophomore center-fielder Ryan Kent were 2-for-5, and Robinson drove in a pair of runs.
Senior right-fielder Brandon Rawe, senior shortstop Robby Spencer and freshman third baseman Evan Warden also collected RBI. Robinson and senior first baseman Kane Sweeney have reached base in 25 consecutive games since last season. Sweeney was held hitless today but drew two walks.
The Eagles scored all their runs in the middle three innings, including a four-run outburst in the sixth. Robinson had a two-run single in the stanza, Kent scored on a bases-loaded walk and Sweeney raced home on a wild pitch.
Marshall shortstop Sergio Leon tallied two of his team's four hits. Starting pitcher Callaway Kirkpatrick was hit with the loss to fall to 0-4.
SAINT LOUIS 6, UT MARTIN 5
ST. LOUIS - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team received 6.2 scoreless innings out of its bullpen this afternoon but a six-run second inning by Saint Louis resulted in a 6-5 Skyhawk loss at the Billiken Sports Center.
Gary Price (1.2 innings), Dillon Symon (two innings), Michael Fidler (two innings) and Matt Poteete (one inning) were all responsible for scoreless relief appearances today, allowing only four hits and one walk in the process. UT Martin starter Cole Schaenzer (0-2) was credited with the loss after allowing six runs in 1.1 frames.
Nick Pribble – who delivered the game-winning walk-off single in Tuesday’s win over Southern Illinois – drove in two more runs today to pace the Skyhawk offense. Isaac Carrel scored twice while driving in a run, Matt Hirsch scored a pair of runs while Mikey Nantze (RBI) and Mike Murphy (run scored) helped guide UT Martin (4-13) at the plate.
Schaenzer accounted for a scoreless inning in the bottom of the first with a little help from his defense. Saint Louis (13-7) managed a two-out single but Mike Vigliarolo was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double after Andrew Castillo fired a perfect strike to Pribble, who applied the tag.
The Billikens then tallied six runs on four hits in the bottom of the second, their only scoring inning of the contest.
Price, who retired the only two batters he faced in the second inning, breezed through the third inning after Nantze delivered a strike to second base to cut down a would-be basestealer.
Symon then took over, pitching around trouble to strand the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth.
UT Martin then got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. Murphy reached on an error to lead off the inning and Hirsch followed with a single through the left side. Carrel then split the gap in right center with a double to bring in Murphy for the Skyhawks’ first run of the contest. Hirsch scored and Carrel advanced to third on a wild pitch before Carrel crossed home plate on an RBI groundout by Nantze to make the score 6-3.
Symon worked another quick inning in the fifth, inducing a pair of flyouts and a strikeout in his final frame.
Taylor Douglas and Nico Zych led off the sixth inning with back-to-back singles but UT Martin was not able to put another run on the scoreboard.
Fidler made short work of the Billikens in the sixth, retiring the side in order. That led to two more Skyhawk runs in the top of the seventh as UT Martin closed its gap to just one run. Hirsch was walked to lead off the frame and Carrel was hit by a pitch to put a pair of Skyhawks on the basepaths. Both runners moved up 90 feet thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Nantze and Pribble brought both players in to score with a double to left center to make the score 6-5.
Fidler worked around a double and a walk in the seventh, ending the inning with a 5-3 double play. Poteete followed with a shutout ninth but UT Martin could not get the potential tying run on base in the top of the ninth.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 12, ARKANSAS 11
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Southeast Missouri baseball team defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks Wednesday evening, 12-11. Southeast has now won six of the last eight meetings with the Razorbacks dating back to 2000.
Southeast Missouri and Arkansas are each now 10-9 on the season.
Southeast was down 5-1 going into the fourth inning but the Redhawks battled to tie the game and continued to battle as the game went on to hold off the Razorbacks to earn a split in the series.
The Redhawks, who were short on pitching entering the game, knew the offense had to show up and compete. It did so, scoring 12 runs on 14 hits and forcing Arkansas into two errors.
This is the first win over an SEC opponent since Southeast defeated Missouri on April 30, 2013 by a score of 9-7. It's only the second SEC win since the Redhawks beat Arkansas, 6-5, on May 4, 2011.
For the third game in a row, Southeast took the lead first. Southeast used a leadoff double by Ryan Rippee to produce a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Rippee was driven in on a base hit up the middle by Scott Mitchell.
Arkansas put up a five-spot in the third inning to find a lead on Southeast. Clark Eagan hit a two-out double followed by five-straight walks, three of which with the bases loaded, to put the Razorbacks up 3-1. Redhawk starter Jacob Lawrence's day was finished as Zach Moore was brought into the game. Tyler Spoon drilled a double on the first pitch he saw to left to plate two more runs to put the Razorbacks up 5-1.
The Redhawks immediately tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. Andy Lennington drew a one-out walk, stole second, and scored on a base hit by Mitchell. A single by Branden Boggetto and walk to Clayton Evans loaded the bases for the top of the Redhawk order. Trevor Ezell singled off the pitcher's glove to plate a run. Another run scored when Jason Blum was hit by a 3-2 pitch with the bases juiced. Garrett Gandolfo hit a routine double play ball to the second baseman but hustled down the line to break up said double play to reach on the fielder's choice and plate the tying run, 5-5.
Michael Bernal homered off Moore to lead off the bottom of the fourth to give Arkansas the lead, 6-5. Arkansas plated a pair of runs in the fifth inning to lead 8-5 going to the sixth.
Southeast put up their second four-spot of the game in the sixth to recapture the lead. The Redhawks loaded the bases with a base hit and two straight walks to start the inning. Evans scored on a wild pitch then Gandolfo hit a two-run double to left to tie the game. Dalton Hewitt drove in Gandolfo on a base hit up the middle the give Southeast a 9-8 lead.
Evans extended the lead on a first pitch home run to left to lead off the seventh inning, 10-8. The Razorbacks retied it in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs; 10-10 heading to the eighth.
The Redhawks got their runs back in the top half of the eighth. A leadoff single followed by two errors gave Southeast one run back. Hewitt then scored on a sacrifice fly by Mitchell to go back up by two runs, 12-10. Arkansas plated a run in the eighth inning on a throwing error by Greg Mosel to make it a one-run game heading to the ninth inning.
Alex Winkelman made his first appearance out of the bullpen this season in the ninth inning. Winkelman would face the top of the Arkansas order. Eagen flied out to center for the first out of the inning. Joe Serrano flied out to Ezell in left with his back against the wall for the second out. Winkelman threw Andrew Benintendi a chair for the final out of the game.
Southeast had five hitters with two hits in the game while Gandolfo and Mitchell had three RBI each.
Mosel (1-1) earned the win after being the pitcher of record when Southeast took the lead in the eighth. Winkelman earned his first save of the season after coming in a slamming the door shut on the Razorbacks. Southeast used six total pitchers in the game.
Rick Nomura went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Arkansas. Three other Arkansas hitters had two hits each. Lance Phillips (0-1) recorded the loss. Arkansas too used six pitchers in the game.
This was Southeast's longest game of the season as it lasted four hours and 28 minutes.
ALABAMA STATE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama State plated a run in each of the first three innings and limited a hot-hitting Jacksonville State to six hits in a 3-1 win over the Gamecocks on Wednesday at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
The loss drops Jax State to 9-8 on the season, while the Hornets improve to 11-7 overall and notched their first victory over JSU since the 2007 season and just the second win overall between the two teams since the clubs starting playing each other back in 1974.
After scoring the only run of the contest in the opening frame, ASU used five different pitchers to limit the Gamecocks offensively. JSU touched ASU's starter Tyler Howe for four hits and a run in the first three innings. The Hornets went to the bullpen with Michael Tellado and JSU struggled with the three other Hornets out of the pen as it was limited to just a pair of hits in the final six innings. The Gamecocks left 10 men on base and could not get a key hit throughout the contest. Tellado was solid in his three innings of work to pick up the win. He allowed just one hit and struck out four Gamecocks. Jax State struck out a season-high 13 times.
The JSU run was manufactured after Peyton Williams led off the game with a single and then swiped second base. After a Joe McGuire infield single, junior Paschal Petrongolo drove in the run on a put out by first baseman.
The brother tandem of P.J. Biocic and Chris Biocic teamed up to score the run in the opening frame. After P.J. Biocic laced a double, Chris Biococ drove him home. The Biocic duo combined for five of the Hornet's 10 hits and P.J. Biocic drove in a pair. P.J. Harris led off the second with a towering home run blast to right to give ASU the lead that it wouldn't relinquish.
Chris Biocic posted his second RBI of the contest in the third with an RBI to left. All three runs were charged to Michael McCreless, who made his first start of the season. McCreless allowed six hits in four innings of work. The JSU bullpen limited the damage the rest of the way as Colton Campbell, Grant Chandler and Dalton Etheridge combined to hold the Hornets scoreless.
Williams and Joe McGuire were the only two Gamecocks with multiple hits.
EVANSVILLE 15, MURRAY STATE 2
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - A seven-run fourth inning and six-run eighth, propelled Evansville to a 15-2 victory Wednesday over the Murray State baseball team in Evansville. The Purple Aces (8-8) collected 15 hits and scored 10 of their runs with two outs in the inning.
For the 12th time this season, the Racers (6-15) got on the board first as Tyler Lawrence grounded-out to the shortstop to bring in Pokey Harris in the top of the third inning to give MSU a 1-0 lead early on. Murray State falls to 4-8 this season when scoring first.
The lead did not last long as Evansville got a two-run single with two outs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead before pushing the advantage to 9-1 in the fourth with seven runs. All seven runs scored came with two outs in the inning.
A Taylor Mathews RBI single up the middle scored Nick Moore for the Racers’ other run in the loss. Moore led-off the inning with his first triple of the season. Moore was the only Racer with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3 in the loss. UE would add six more runs in the eighth to extend its lead even more in the contest.
The Racers used six pitchers in the game, Sheldon Baxter got the start and was tagged with the loss in his first start of 2015. Baxter allowed three runs on three hits while striking-out four batters in three-plus innings of work. Tyler Anderson, Tanner Edge and Brandon Hicks all made scoreless relief appearances for the Racers in the loss.