FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 16, UT Martin 2
@Murray State 4, Austin Peay 3
@Belmont 9, Morehead State 0
@Jacksonville State 6, Eastern Illinois 4
@Tennessee Tech 12,
SIUE 3
@Illinois State 8,
Eastern Kentucky 2
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 16, UT MARTIN 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri baseball team had quite the homecoming Friday afternoon as they defeated the UT Martin (4-14, 2-5 OVC) Skyhawks, 16-2. It was the first home game for Southeast since February 14.
The Redhawks have now won seven of their last ten as they improve to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Southeast scored in all but two innings in the game. Their 16 runs scored was a new season-high for the offense.
Southeast pegged UT Martin for three runs in the first inning. Trevor Ezell extended his on base streak to 20 games with a double to lead off the game for the Redhawks. After Jason Blum walked, Ezell and Blum executed a double steal to put both runners in scoring position. A double down the left field line by Andy Lennington plated both runners. Lennington scored on a base hit by Dalton Hewitt.
Designated hitter Brendon Neel led off the second inning with a monster home run to left field, his second of the season. Hunter Leeper scored later in the inning on a groundout by Ezell. Southeast led 5-0 after two innings.
The Redhawks put up another three spot in the third inning. Branden Boggetto homered to left field with Hewitt on base to extend the lead to 7-0. Neel scored on a one-out single by Clayton Evans to make it 8-0.
The Skyhawks scored their only runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Matt Hursch hit a single up the middle to score Nick Gavello and Mike Murphy, 8-2 Redhawks.
Neel plated Ryan Rippee in the bottom of the inning to bring the score to 9-2. The Redhawks would strand the bases loaded in the inning.
Three-straight walks to start the sixth inning loaded the bases for Southeast. Leeper drew the fourth-straight walk to push Hewitt in. Evans then blasted a grand slam, the first of the season for Southeast, down the left field line off new UT Martin pitcher Dillon Symon. The Redhawks led 14-2 after six innings.
With bases loaded for Lennington in the eighth inning, Lennington drove a double to left center, scoring Ezell and Alex Burridge, bringing the final score to 16-2.
Southeast scored their 16 runs on 13 hits. Although the Skyhawks made two errors, all 16 runs were earned against five Skyhawk pitchers.
Evans finished 2-for-3 with five RBI. Aside from Evans, four other Redhawks contributed a pair of hits each. All nine Redhawk starters scored at least one run in the game. Lennington finished with four RBI.
The Redhawks also drew a season-high 12 walks in the game; three of which were drawn by Blum.
Southeast stole a season-best five bases. Leeper, the starting catcher for the Redhawks, was 3-for-3 on gunning down Skyhawk runners from behind the plate.
Travis Hayes (4-2) picked up the win after seven innings of work Friday. He gave up two runs on seven hits. He struck out seven to tie a season-high and walked the only Skyhawk batter of the game. Ryan Lenaburg pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
Taylor Douglas and Gavello had the only multi-hit games with two hits each for UT Martin.
Skyhawk starter Daniel Shaw (0-2) recorded the loss. He pitched two and a third innings, surrendering eight runs on seven hits. He also walked five batters.
MURRAY STATE 4, AUSTIN PEAY 3
MURRAY, Ky. - Brock Downey pitched 8.2 innings and Cody Maerz came on in the top of the ninth inning for the save as the Murray State baseball team won its 2015 home opener 4-3 over Austin Peay Friday at Johnny Reagan Field. Nick Moore’s sacrifice fly in the fourth to score Derek Yoder proved to be the game-winning RBI for the Racers (7-15, 3-4 OVC).
For the 12th time this season, MSU got on the board first as the Racers got three runs across in the bottom of the second inning. A Taylor Mathews RBI single up the middle brought home Anthony Bayus to get things started in the inning, while a throwing error on the Governors (10-8, 4-3 OVC) with two outs in the inning allowed Mathews and Yoder to score to make it 3-0 in favor of the Racers.
APSU was able to get one back in the third on a Dre Gleason solo home run to right field in the third and then in the fourth, another solo shot, this time from Logan Gray made it 3-2. Gleason tied the game with his second RBI of the day later in the fourth to tie the game.
The Racers didn’t trail for long however as in the bottom half of the fourth they were able to manufacture the game-winning run. Yoder led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch, followed by a Kipp Moore single to right on a hit-and-run allowing Yoder to move to third. Moore’s sac fly was during the next at-bat.
MSU was out-hit in the win 12-5, but the Racers left five runners on base while the Governors stranded nine in the contest. Bayus collected a pair of hits in the win while Yoder went 1-for-2 with two runs scored. Friday’s win marks the third time this season that the Racers have won game one of a three-game series.
Downey evens his record to 3-3 on the season with the victory. Downey allowed three runs on 11 hits while walking two and striking-out three batters. Maerz picks up his second save of the season in his appearance.
BELMONT 9, MOREHEAD STATE 0
NASHVILLE - The Belmont Bruins defeated the Morehead State Eagles 9-0 on Friday at Rose Park. Dan Ludwig led the Bruins past the Eagles with a three hit shutout and a complete game for the second consecutive outing.
The Morehead State Eagles entered the weekend series coming off of a 14 run effort against ETSU. Their hot bats were quickly put to rest against Ludwig. Ludwig is now 2-1 on the season with a 2.35 ERA.
The Bruins took an early lead in the bottom of the first with three consecutive singles; the third single by Matt Beaty plated a runner. Nick Egli hit a single straight up the middle to plate two runners. Drake Byrd placed a sacrifice fly to center field to score the last run in the bottom of the first.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brennan Washington delivered with a two-run home run over the left center fence. Ferguson later scored on a wild pitch.
The Bruins expanded on their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with patience at the plate. A couple of walks and an infield error loaded the bases. Tyler Walsh scored on a wild pitch and another runner scored soon after that via a sacrifice fly.
With a strong outing for Ludwig and patience at the plate, the Bruins outplayed the Eagles in game one of the series. The Bruins return on Saturday to face the Eagles in game two of this three-game series.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 6, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State senior closer Travis Stout matched the Ohio Valley Conference's career saves mark on Friday as the Gamecocks topped Eastern Illinois, 6-4, in the first game of the three-game weekend series at Rudy Abbott Field.
Stout, who picked up his third save of the season after tossing the ninth, matched former Austin Peay standout Tyler Rogers, who finished with 35 career saves for the Govs.
The Smyrna, Georgia-native got two quick outs before the Panthers (0-14, 0-4 OVC) tried to stake a comeback with a pair of runners on base before he got EIU to pop in foul ground to end it.
The Gamecocks (10-8, 3-4 OVC) had to come from behind as EIU plated a run in each of the first two innings off of Jax State starter Zachary Fowler. Fowler settled in after the first two frames to post his second quality start in the last two weekends. The Daphne, Alabama-right hander tossed six innings and allowed six hits and turned in six strikeouts.
JSU, after having just six hits on Wednesday at Alabama State, tacked on 12 hits against EIU pitching and did all of its scoring in the middle innings. JSU put the first run on the board in the third after junior Paschal Petrongolo connected on one of his three hits on the evening with a single to right, to bring home Gavin Golsan. After taking a 3-2 lead with a two spot in the fourth, EIU evened the contest with a run in the fifth. JSU had back-to-back hits in the fourth to take the lead for the first time after a single by sophomore Peyton Williams and a double by freshman Hayden White.
Petrongolo and Ryan Sebra, the Co-OVC Player of the Week, highlighted the JSU half of the fifth. After a Clayton Daniel walk to start the inning and his swipe of second base, Petrongolo laced a double to left center for the RBI. Sebra drove in Petrongolo with an opposite field single to right.
The Gamecocks ran in to some trouble in the seventh as the Panthers threatened for a big inning after three straight walks to load the bases. EIU scored just one run on Demetre Taylor's single up the middle. Sophomore Joe McGuire would strike out the next two hitters and end the threat with a pop up second. McGuire finished off the seventh and returned for the eighth and allowed just one hit and three strikeouts before handing things over to Stout in the ninth.
Sebra and Elliot McCummings joined Petrongolo in the line up with multiple hits.
TENNESSEE TECH 12, SIUE 3
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A moment unmatched by any other sport, the two-out, bases-loaded with a full count scenario happens once or twice in season if you're lucky. The pressures faced by the pitcher and batter are so intense, that there is just no real way to describe the tension, save the old adage with pins dropping.
Tennessee Tech junior Josh Pankratz found himself in one of those situations Friday evening, waiting for SIUE starter Ryan Daniels to offer on a 3-2 count, the bases juiced and a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Maybe it was the fact that he was due for big hit, batting just .111 coming into the at bat. Maybe it was pitcher, possibly overlooking the patience Pankratz always seems to bring the dish. Or maybe it was the right-center field lights blowing a fuse, moments before the delivery. (I mean baseball players are superstitious and that's about as good of an omen as one could ask for.)
Whatever the case, the third baseman took the sixth pitch of the at bat and launched it to a different area code for the first Golden Eagle grand slam of the 2015 season and propelled the team to a 12-9, series-opening victory over a Cougar team entering the night's contest undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Pankratz's four-run bombzini set the stage for a huge fourth inning by the Tech offense, instantly taking a contest stalemated by two dominant pitching performances and blowing it wide open with a 7-0 lead. It all started with just who many fans would expect, All-American shortstop Dylan Bosheers.
The senior approached the plate with a two-out hole staring him in the face as one of last year's OVC Pitcher of the Year candidates continued to look deserving of that title. Daniels had allowed just one hit in the game, two batters earlier to David Allen, and promptly induced a ground ball double play on the next pitch. He was sure to get through to the next inning.
Enter the prowess of the All-American. Bosheers fought off a foul ball on a 1-2 count before drilling a ball through the right side to keep the inning alive. Freshman first baseman Chase Chambers drew a five-pitch walk to put two men on and fellow freshman Ryan Flick did what he has done so much already this season; drive in runs.
Flick tattooed a double to left center field, driving in Bosheers and giving Tech the early 1-0 lead. Senior catcher Jordan Hopkins followed, working a tough full count on six pitches before sneaking an RBI single through the left side to double the Golden Eagle advantage to 2-0.
Sophomore Anthony El Chibani made that 3-0 lead five pitches later, taking the ball back through the right side for an RBI and base hit. Freshman left fielder Matt Cunningham was hit by a pitch in the next at bat, setting up Pankratz for the biggest hit of his young, Golden Eagle career.
After the grand slam, David Allen decided to get in on the action, slugging his second career home run the deep left center. Tech now lead 8-0, Daniels was chased from the game, and it all occurred with two outs.
The Golden Eagles did manage to scratch across four more runs in the final five innings, scoring once in the fifth, twice in the seventh and once more in the eighth.
Almost somewhat overshadowed on the night, whether it be from the insane fourth inning or the fact that he just couldn't live up to his ridiculous performance from the week before, was senior hurler Chris Chism.
Less than a week after turning in one of the most incredible pitching performances in program history (a one-hit, 17-strikeout shutout of UT Martin), the righty came back with seven strong frames on the hill, scattering four hits and allowing just one earned run. He struck out nine Cougar batters, bringing his total in his two starts this season to a mind-boggling 26 Ks in 16 innings of work.
Fellow senior Austin Tolle took care of business in the eighth innings, allowing no hits and just one unearned run to score. Freshman Will Gardner closed out the game with two strikeouts and run given up in the ninth.
Pankratz was the obvious leader on offense for Tech, closing out the night with four RBI, but the junior had plenty of help. Nine of the 10 Golden Eagles that recorded an at bat on the night tallied a hit and scored at least one run. Both El Chibani and Cunningham each drove in two runners while Allen, Chambers, Flick and Hopkins each recorded one RBI.
ILLINOIS STATE 8, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
NORMAL, Ill. - The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team fell to host Illinois State, 8-2, on Friday in game one of this weekend’s series at Duffy Bass Field.
The Redbirds (9-12) shut out the Colonels (6-12) until the ninth inning, when sophomore Ben Fisher delivered a two-out, two-run double to left field, scoring sophomore Taylor Blair and sophomore Daniel McFarland.
Fisher finished the game 1-for-4 with two RBI. Juniors Kyle Nowlin, Luke Wurzelbacher and Mandy Alvarez were the only other Colonels to get a hit in the game.
Paul DeJong paced ISU offensively, going 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored.
Sophomore southpaw Alex Hamilton (0-3) delivered a solid start, going five innings and allowing five runs, only three of which were earned. Senior right-handers Matt Lynch and Ben Gullo and junior right-hander Eric Nerl all saw action out of the bullpen.
Left-hander Will Headean delivered a masterful performance on the mound for Illinois State, finishing one out shy of a complete game while surrendering only two runs on three hits.
EKU will look to bounce back in game two of this weekend’s series tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.