WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 18, Illinois College 3
@Austin Peay 17, Southern Illinois 6
@Eastern Kentucky 4, Morehead State 2
Alabama State 8,
@Jacksonville State 7
@Western Kentucky 5,
Murray State 4
@Ole Miss 11,
UT Martin 1
Belmont 3, @Memphis 1
Tennessee Tech, @Western Carolina (cancelled)
EASTERN ILLINOIS 18, ILLINOIS COLLEGE 3
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The season long chase to get to the top of the Eastern Illinois career hits list ended on Wednesday afternoon for Panthers senior outfielder Caleb Howell as he connected for career hit number 261 in the second inning of a 18-3 win over Illinois College at Coaches Stadium.
Howell, a native of Jacksonville, Ill., picked up the record setting hit against the college located in his home town. He drew a walk his first time at the plate in first inning as the Panthers scored four runs on a Brant Valach grand slam. In the second Howell laced a single to right field to move into sole possession of the hits record. The previous record of 260 was held by Ryan Campbell (2004-07). Howell exited the game following the second inning going 1-for-1.
Valach provided the offensive punch for the Panthers as the senior third baseman was 3-for-3 with seven RBI. Valach moved into the EIU career top ten for RBI in the second inning with his RBI single to right. He added two more RBI with a double to center in the third inning.
The early offense was all senior starter Christian Slazinik (1-4) would need to pick up the win. EIU had five pitchers work on the day allowing ten hits while picking up 13 strikeouts. Slazinik had five strikeouts while Garrison Stenger set down four batters on strikes.
Illinois College scored all three of its runs in the seventh inning. Nick Dalfonso and Jonathan Schrage drove home runs in the inning while the final Blueboys run scored on a wild pitch. D.J. Davis (2-3) suffered the loss for Illinois College. Josh Krumwiede was 3-for-4 at the plate.
EIU scored 12 runs in the first three innings. Bobby Wenthe had a two-run double in the second and drove home another run in the third. Wenthe was 2-for-3 as seven Panthers finished with multiple hits.
Adam Casson was 3-for-5 hitting a home run in the sixth inning. The Panthers finished with five doubles and two home runs racking up 22 hits. Marshawn Taylor led the way with a 4-for-6 game.
EIU improved to 5-26 on the season and will play a weekend OVC series at Belmont. Illinois College fell to 9-13.
AUSTIN PEAY 17, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 6
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University baseball team struck early and struck often against Southern Illinois, Wednesday, pounding the Salukis for a 17-6 win at Raymond C. Hand Park.
The Govs pounded out 19 hits, one off their season high, including eight with two outs and seven with runners in scoring position. Austin Peay accumulated 13 two-out RBI against the Salukis.
Austin Peay (20-14) got on the board first with a five-run second inning. After back-to-back singles by junior Josh Wilson and sophomore Alex Robles and a walk to sophomore Chase Hamilton loaded the bases, Wilson opened the scoring via a balk from SIU hurler Connor McFadden.
After a strike out and a Ridge Smith walk loaded the bases again, sophomore Cayce Bredlau brought Robles and Hamilton around to score on a single through the right side. After a Garrett Copeland walk brought the sacks full of Governors yet again, sophomore Logan Gray capped the barrage with a two-run single under the diving glove of Ryan Sabo.
The Salukis loaded the bases in the top of the third, bringing in a pair of runs, but the Govs avoided true damage thanks to a timely 4-6-3 double play with the sacks full.
Southern Illinois (7-30) tacked on another run in the top of the fourth, but the Govs answered with four in the home half. Wilson scored Bredlau and Smith on a single to right, while a Dre Gleason double two batters later scored Wilson and Robles to make it 9-3. The Govs reached double-digits in the fifth when a Bredlau single up the middle brought in Smith following his lead-off double.
Meanwhile, sophomore Caleb Powell was sterling in his mid-week start, tossing five hits and three runs (two earned) over five innings to notch his season's fifth victory.
The Governor onslaught continued in the bottom of the sixth, scoring six runs. Gleason crushed an opposite-field solo home run, his season's third, and Gray added a three-run blast later in the inning as part of a five-RBI day, his second-highest total this season. Copeland also added a two-run single in the frame. An eighth-inning, pinch-hit triple from Wesley Purcell capped the scoring for the Govs.
Smith reached base in all six plate appearances, with two walks, two singles and a double, in addition to reaching via fielder's choice. He scored five times, the first time a Gov has scored five runs in a game since Rolando Gautier against Morehead State in 2011 and one shy of the school record. Bredlau, Copeland and Gleason each collected three hits apiece.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 4, MOREHEAD STATE 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky snapped Morehead State’s 11-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory in a mid-week non-conference game on Wednesday.
Luke Wurzelbacher’s double to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning allowed Ben Fisher to score from first base and tie the score 2-2. Taylor Blair then led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a single through the left side by Blake Sides.
Fisher’s RBI double in the eighth gave the Colonels (12-20) a two-run cushion.
Morehead State (22-14) took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Chris Robinson tied it with a two-out single to right field. Two batters later, Nick Newell’s infield single drove in Robinson.
Chris Cervantes started for Eastern and allowed just two runs on nine hits in six innings. Ben Brooks (2-0) earned the win in relief, allowing just one hit over the final three innings. He did not walk any batters and struck out one.
Wurzelbacher finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Five other Colonels had one hit each. Robby Spencer was 3-for-4 for the Eagles and Ryan Kent went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
ALABAMA STATE 8, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Alabama State erased a five-run deficit and held off a late Jacksonville State charge to claim an 8-7 decision on Wednesday night at Rudy Abbott Field.
With the win, the Hornets took all three meetings with the Gamecocks this season after claiming a par of wins earlier in the season in Montgomery. JSU fell to 19-16 overall and split its pair of midweek contests before trekking to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for a key Ohio Valley Conference weekend series with conference frontrunner Southeast Missouri, beginning on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m.
JSU broke a 1-1 deadlock in the fourth inning with five runs off of ASU starter, Tyler Howe. Back-to-back doubles by sophomore Josh Bobo and freshman Hayden White started the frame. White's two-bagger to deep centerfield scored Bobo give JSU its first lead of the contest. Bobo, from Attalla, Alabama had a solid midweek at the dish going a 6-for-7 in the contests against Kennesaw State on Tuesday and ASU on Wednesday. After going 4-for-4 at KSU, Bobo collected a pair of hits against the Hornets.
After one out in the inning, freshman Taylor Hawthorne beat out an infield single to score White. Junior Paschal Petrongolo doubled down the right field line to drive in the fourth run of the inning. Junior Tyler Gamble picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly to center, plating Petrongolo. Petrongolo went 3-for-3, including a pair of walks in the setback.
The Hornets responded in the fifth and sixth as they would trim the lead to 6-4 with three runs in the fifth. Back-to-back singles by P.J. Biocic and Chris Biocic scored the three runs in the fifth. Chris Biocic plated two of the three runs off of JSU's Jesse Fry, the first of six Gamecock pitchers to see action on the hill in the contest.
ASU's Ray Hernandez delivered the big blow in the sixth with a three-run home run to left field. After a one-out walk by JSU's Graham Officer to Gustavo Rios and a hit by a pitch by Officer, Hernandez belted his first home run of the season.
ASU would use most of its bullpen to styme the Gamecock offense the rest of the way. JSU's who had just eight hits on the night, left 13 men on base and went 6-for-25 with runners in scoring position. The Hornets' pitching staff turned in 14 strikeouts in the win. Patrick Coffin earned his second win of the season, while Officer suffered the loss.
ASU added an unearned insurance run in the eighth and it proved to be the difference in the game. Jax State answered with a run in the home half as senior Ryan Sebra had a single to plate Gavin Golsan, who led off the inning with a walk.
ASU closer Armando Ruiz ran in to some trouble in the final JSU at bat as he walked a pair to put the tying run in scoring position with two down in the frame.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 5, MURRAY STATE 4
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - For the second game in as many nights, the Murray State baseball team was unable to overcome an early 4-0 deficit, as the Racers lost 5-4 Wednesday night in Bowling Green to Western Kentucky.
WKU (18-16) used a four-run second inning, to propel itself to its big lead early in the contest. All four of the Hilltoppers’ runs came with two outs in the inning. MSU (14-24) found a way to respond though in the fourth with a three-run inning. A Taylor Mathews single through the right side got the Racers on the board first as he brought in Dalton West. Three batters later, a Matt McGowan single to right center made it 4-2 on the run b Mathews. MSU then got a little tricky as a double steal by McGowan and Kipp Moore, allowed Moore to steal home and make it 4-3.
The Hilltoppers were able to add an insurance run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly RBI to make the score 5-3, which proved to be the game-deciding run. Nick Moore’s second home run of the season brought the Racers back within one run at 5-4 in the seventh. Moore’s blast went to left center field.
In the ninth, after a Pokey Harris bunt single led-off the inning for MSU, a controversial play ended up costing the Racers the runner on base. Kipp Moore was called for batter’s interference on what would have been a stolen base for Harris, giving the Racers two outs in the inning. Brock Downey grounded-out for MSU in the next at-bat to end the game.
Both teams collected seven hits in the game while WKU committed the only error in the contest. Harris was the lone Racer with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 at the dish. Harris and West both had doubles in the loss for Murray State.
John Lollar got the start in the game for MSU and took the loss, dropping him to 1-4 on the season. Lollar pitched six innings and allowed five runs off of six hits while strking-out and walking three batters apiece. Andrew Bramley pitched a ver solid seventh and eighth inning of relief for the Racers. Bramley allowed just one hit in his appearance and struck-out a season-best four batters.
OLE MISS 11, UT MARTIN 1
OXFORD, Miss. - Senior outfielder Taylor Douglas belted his team-best seventh home run of the season this afternoon but the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team fell by an 11-1 margin at Southeastern Conference opponent Ole Miss.
Douglas connected on his blast out to left field in the sixth inning for the Skyhawks (10-24). He also doubled to finish the day with two hits while Mike Murphy and Nico Zych also added a hit today for UT Martin.
Five pitchers saw action for the Skyhawks today, as starting pitcher Jackson Zarubin (0-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs in two innings. Alex Martin (two innings), Carter Smith (two innings), Patrick Bernard (one inning) and Chris Flores (one inning) also saw time on the mound for UT Martin.
Zarubin retired the side in order in the bottom of the first, needing only 11 pitches to accomplish that feat. He then retired the first batter of the second inning before Ole Miss (19-18) scored four runs in the same inning to take an early lead.
Martin took over in the third and posted a scoreless frame, retiring the final two batters via strikeout. The Rebels then recorded five runs in the bottom of the fourth before Smith retired the side in order in the fifth.
Douglas’ blast then got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard in the sixth. It was the 14th homer in 82 career games at UT Martin for the Holladay, Tenn. native.
Ole Miss added one run apiece in the sixth and seventh innings before Flores tossed a shutout frame in the eighth, fielding a comebacker to begin an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play to close out the inning.
The Skyhawks were able to get one runner on the basepaths in the top of the ninth but the Rebels soon closed out the game.
BELMONT 3, MEMPHIS 1
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Kyle Conger delivered with a three run home run over the left field fence to plate the only runs scored against the Tigers. The Bruins tamed the tigers and held them scoreless until the eighth inning taking the game in a 3-1 victory on Wednesday at FedExPark in Memphis.
Despite effort from both teams at FedEXPark to plate runners, the game remained scoreless through six innings.
Dom Veltri provided a great start on the mound for the Bruins. In four innings of work, Veltri struck out six batters a new career high and allowed no runs on four hits.
Relieving Veltri on the mound was Josh Tubbs. In two innings he struck out a batter and held the Tigers scoreless. Matthew Kinney came in to close for the Bruins and struck out three batters.
The Bruins only scored their only runs in the top of the seventh. Desi Ammons led off the inning drawing a walk. Zach Lannan came in to the game to pinch run. Joe Stovall reached first by taking a pitch to the forearm. With runners on first and second Brennan Washington laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners into scoring position. Now with two outs, Kyle Conger hit a three RBI shot over the left field fence to drive in three runs for the Bruins.
The Tigers attempted to come back in the eighth scoring a run on three hits. They ultimately fell short to the Bruins bullpen.