SUNDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 5, @Austin Peay 4
@Jacksonville State 15, Belmont 9
Eastern Kentucky 12-5, @Eastern Illinois 4-13
Southeast Missouri 10, @Murray State 2
@SIUE 6, UT Martin 2
@#5 Arizona State 16,
Tennessee Tech 4
MOREHEAD STATE 5, AUSTIN PEAY 4
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Blaine Tanner delivered the game-tying hit, and fellow senior Clayton Meyer drilled the game-winning single in the eighth inning as the Morehead State baseball team erased a 4-0 deficit to defeat Austin Peay 5-4 and claim an Ohio Valley Conference series at Raymond C. Hand Park Sunday.
Morehead State, which has now won four consecutive league series, improved to 27-17 overall and 13-8 in the OVC. MSU is approaching the school record for wins at 31, established by the 1993 team. The Eagles, who claimed a 10-5 decision Saturday, also won the APSU series for the second straight season.
The Govs fell to 22-19 and 13-11 in the conference.
Governor starter Jared Carkhuff had held the Eagles scoreless through seven frames, but freshman first baseman Braxton coaxed a leadoff walk in the eighth, and sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kent doubled to right field on a 3-2 pitch. Reliever Michael Costonzo entered the game, and senior first baseman Kane Sweeney greeted him with a towering three- home run over the 392-foot sign in center field.
With two outs and runners on the corners, Tanner looped a single that nicked off shortstop Garrett Copeland's outstretched glove as he dove in short left field. That play, off APSU closer AJ Gaura, scored senior rightfielder Brandon Rawe to make it 4-4. Meyer then ripped a two-strike, ground-ball single that ricocheted off second baseman Imani Willis' glove in shallow right field to score senior leftfielder Nick Newell.
Freshman righthander Brent Stoneking shut down the hosts 1-2-3 in the eighth and nailed down the final three outs for his third career save.
Freshman righty David Calderon moved to 3-1 with the victory. He produced his longest outing of the year (seven innings) and allowed all four runs on just five hits.
Gaura was nailed with his first loss of the season, surrendering two runs in an inning of work.
Sweeney and senior catcher Chris Robinson each tallied two hits, while six APSU batters had a hit apiece. Kent (23 games) and Sweeney (21) extended their reached-base streaks.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 15, BELMONT 9
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State mounted a pair of comebacks on Sunday to complete a weekend sweep of Belmont with a 15-9 win at Rudy Abbott Field.
Junior first baseman Tyler Gamble's three-run blast in the sixth capped a six-run sixth for Jax State as the home run erased an 8-4 lead that the Bruins put together in the first four innings. The Gamecocks used the long ball in the contest as Gamble's round tripper was just one of three hit by JSU. Senior Ryan Sebra gave JSU a quick 4-2 lead in third with a grand slam to left field. It was the first grand slam hit by a Gamecock since Sam Eberle cleared the bases against Austin Peay on April 29, 2012. Sebra was not finished connecting on home runs as he followed Gamble's blast with another home run to left to give JSU a 12-9 lead and an advantage that it would not relinquish thanks to great relief pitching by Graham Officer. Officer threw 4.2 innings and settled down the Bruins offense. He allowed six hits and posted five strikeouts. All but two BU runs were earned, including six unearned runs in the top of the fourth to take an 8-4 lead.
The last time JSU had back-to-back home runs was during the 2012 season as former standouts Ben Waldrip and Kyle Bluestein went yard against Auburn on May 15. It was the third time this season that JSU had two home runs in the same inning and the second time this season that the Gamecocks pushed across double digit runs. JSU won a 12-8 game at Austin Peay back on March 16.
It was a much-needed three-game sweep of a conference opponent as the Gamecocks have moved back in to contention for one of the six OVC Tournament bids with three weekends left in the regular season. JSU improved to 23-20 overall and 10-11 in OVC play. The Bruins fell to 21-21 on the season and 10-10 in the league. BU has dropped its last three conference series dating back to the Austin Peay series in early April.
With an 8-4 deficit, JSU crawled back in to the contest with a pair of runs in the fourth on a pair of RBI from Taylor Hawthorne and Gavin Golsan. Hawthorne finished with three hits to lead all Gamecock hitters. Golsan scored and reached base three times. Golsan keyed the six-run sixth with a double down the left field line to chase BU's Dom Veltri.
For the weekend, JSU batted .321 and collected 34 hits against Bruin pitching, including 15 extra base hits. The Gamecocks had eight doubles, five home runs and a pair of triples in the three-game series. The JSU pitching staff had a solid week after blanking South Alabama on Tuesday; the hurlers had a composite earned run average of 2.60 for the five games and tallied 45 strikeouts to just 14 walks. Belmont, one of the top hitting teams in the league was held to a .245 batting average and finished with 10 earned runs in the three-game series.
BU's leadoff man Drew Ferguson turned in a solid day at the plate in the setback going 4-for-5 and a pair of RBI. Tyler Ferguson drove in four runs, including a two-run home run in the first inning.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 12-5, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4-13
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team split an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Eastern Illinois University on Sunday, winning the first game 12-4 before falling 13-5 in game two.
The Colonels used a 7-run sixth inning to propel themselves to a win in game one. A pair of solo home runs by Kyle Nowlin was all EKU had to show offensively through the first five innings and trailed 4-2. Cole Warrenfeltz gave Eastern Kentucky the lead, 5-4, with a 2-run double down the left field line. Ben Fisher and Luke Wurzelbacher each drove in a pair of runs with back-to-back doubles to cap the inning and make it a 9-4 game.
Junior Mandy Alvarez put the game away with a three-run home run over the wall in center field in the seventh inning. Nowlin finished 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs and two RBIs. Fisher was 2-for-5 with a run and two driven in. Five Colonels had at least two RBIs.
Despite allowing 15 hits in eight and one-third innings, Logan Hershenow (3-6) picked up the win. The senior gave up just three earned runs and faced two more batters than the minimum over his final three and one-third innings of work. He walked two and struck out four in his longest outing of the season.
Alvarez got the Colonels on the board early in the second game with a 2-run home run in the first inning and EKU led 3-2 going into the bottom of the second inning. The Panthers scored four times in that frame and never trailed again. Caleb Howell’s RBI single to left put the home team on top for good.
EKU (15-24, 8-12 OVC) got within one, 6-5, on an RBI single by Warrenfeltz and a sacrifice fly by Nowlin in the fourth, but EIU (9-29, 6-15 OVC) pulled away with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 10, MURRAY STATE 2
MURRAY, Ky. - The Southeast Missouri State baseball team picked up their second-straight Ohio Valley Conference series sweep Sunday when they defeated Murray State, 10-2, in the series finale.
Southeast Missouri improves to 28-15 on the season and 19-5 in OVC play. Murray is now 14-31, 9-12 OVC.
With Southeast's win over Murray and a win by SIUE Sunday, the Redhawks' magic number to clinch the OVC regular season title is now three. Southeast has won seven straight conference games.
For the third time in the series, Southeast was the first team to score. Branden Boggetto doubled in Dalton Hewitt in the second inning to put the Redhawks on the board, 1-0.
A pair of runs scored in the top of the third inning for Southeast. Trevor Ezell and Jason Blum had base hits to start the inning. After a fielder's choice at second to get Blum, Southeast had runners on the corners with one out. Ezell scored on an RBI base hit by Hewitt. Garrett Gandolfo later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Rippee. The Redhawks led 3-0 after three innings.
With a pair of runners on base, Ezell hit a bullet through the shortstop's legs, scoring both runs. Ezell scored on a wild pitch after a sac bunt by Blum. Gandolfo walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored when Hewitt doubled to right-center field. The Redhawks held a 7-0 lead on the Racers going to the bottom of the fourth inning.
A series of events on a single to left field led to Murray State scoring their first run in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Derek Yoder on first, Tyler Lawrence hit a base hit to left. The throw came in to third in an attempt to get Yoder, but he was safe, prompting the defense to try and get Lawrence at second. The throw beat Lawrence but he was called safe on the play. As the Redhawks held the ball at second, Yoder swiped home to put the Racers on the board. After five innings, Southeast led 7-1.
Andy Lennington led off the seventh inning with a base hit to right. He advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Boggetto; 8-1 Southeast Missouri.
Blum was hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth inning. He advanced on a groundout and again on a fly out. He scored on an RBI single by Hewitt, widening the lead to 9-1.
Murray's Kipp Moore hit a leadoff home run in the eighth to bring the score to 9-2.
The Redhawks started emptying the bench in the top of the ninth inning. Pinch hitter Alex Burridge, Peter Williams, and pinch hitter Cole Ferguson each had one-out hits to load the bases. Burridge scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-2.
The Racers loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but Matthew Wade was able to work out of the jam and secure the sweep of the Racers.
The Redhawks outhit the Racers 16-10. Each team committed an error in the game. Hewitt finished the game 4-for-5 with three RBI. Ezell, Boggetto, and Mitchell each had two hits in the game.
Alex Winkelman (3-2) picked up his third-straight win in as many starts. Winkelman pitched six innings, allowing only one run on seven hits. Winkelman struck out nine batters and only walked two. Zach Moore pitched two innings in relief while Wade pitched the ninth to close the game.
SIUE 6, UT MARTIN 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE baseball scored a come-from-behind 6-2 win over UT Martin Sunday to sweep the three-game Ohio Valley Conference Series.
The Cougars improved to 15-9 in OVC play and 15-21 overall. UT Martin is 5-16 in the OVC and 12-29 overall.
The Cougars have now swept three OVC series this season. Sunday marked the third consecutive series sweep of SIUE over UT Martin in Edwardsville.
Cougar starter Ryan Daniels worked into the seventh inning in his longest outing of the year. He allowed just two runs on four hits and struck out a season-high five hitters. He improved to 3-5 with the win.
The Skyhawks took advantage of two walks to get out in front in the sixth. Nick Gavello gave UT Martin the lead with a two-out, two-run double, but the Cougars answered.
SIUE scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. The inning started with a double from Jacob Stewart. Nick Lombardo reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt before moving to second base on a sac bunt by Denton Reed. Chase Green reached on an error, scoring Lombardo. Keaton Wright grounded out to drive in Green and Alec Saikal made it 3-2 with a single to left field.
The Cougars scored three more runs in the eighth. Saikal picked up another RBI-single and two runs scored when a fly ball to left from Parker Guinn was dropped.
Ryan Agnitsch relieved Daniels in the seventh inning and worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings. UTM loaded the bases against Agnitsch in the eighth inning before Agnitsch induced a ground ball double play from Gavello. The play would have tied the game, but umpires ruled that Nico Zych's slide into second base was illegal and the runners were forced to go back.
Brett Thomas worked the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his team-leading fifth save of the year, and the second save of the series.
Carter Smith (2-8) worked 7 2/3 innings for the Skyhawks. He allowed all six runs, but just three earned. He struck out five. Smith did not allow a hit through the first five innings.
#5 ARIZONA STATE 16, TENNESSEE TECH 4
PHOENIX, Ariz. - All that went right for the Tennessee Tech baseball team in Saturday night's upset victory over No. 5 Arizona State didn't for the Golden Eagles Sunday afternoon, as the Sun Devils took the three-game series with a 16-4 win at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The Golden Eagles looked to be on the right path towards duplicating their start just one night prior, collecting a leadoff single from sophomore Tyler Brazelton. After two quick outs, freshman Chase Chambers ripped a ball to right field, much like his home run smash from the night before. This one just missed the sweet spot, however, falling into the glove of the right fielder and ending the inning.
It was all Sun Devils from that point on, as the home squad tallied two runs in each of the first and third frames to jump out to a 4-0 lead. ASU added another marker in the fourth before taking over for good in the fifth.
Arizona State showed why it was ranked as the No. 5 team in the nation, plating 11 runners in the bottom of fifth thanks to nine hits, two walks and a Golden Eagle miscue.
The Tech squad crossed two in the sixth, taking advantage of back-to-back walks issued to seniors David Allen and Dylan Bosheers to start the inning. Fellow senior Jordan Hopkins drove in the first run for the Golden Eagles, sending a sacrifice fly out to right field. Following a walk by redshirt freshman Ryan Flick, Bosheers came home on wild pitch to provide the second Tech score.
In the top of the seventh, the Golden Eagles notched two more runs thanks to the bat of outfielder Anthony El Chibani. After fighting through a seven-pitch at bat, freshman infielder Trevor Putzig drew a walk, setting up his teammate for the big fly. El Chibani sent a 3-1 offering down the right field line, clearing the fence and doubling the Tech run total to four in the same swing.
El Chibani led the Golden Eagles on the day, going 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Also collecting hits for the Tech squad were Brazelton, Matt Cunningham (a double to left center field), Chase Chambers and Jake Farr.