SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 11, Eastern Kentucky 9
Southeast Missouri 4-1, @Murray State 3-11
UT Martin 3, @SIUE 2
@Southern Illinois 13,
#26 Tennessee Tech 8
Morehead State, @Austin Peay (cancelled)
EASTERN ILLINOIS 11, EASTERN KENTUCKY 9
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball rallied from behind, scoring five runs between the final two inning, and earned an 11-9 win over Eastern Kentucky to complete the series sweep against the Colonels on Sunday.
Eastern Illinois improved their winning streak to six games and now stands at 13-27 (7-11 OVC). Eastern Kentucky dropped to 21-19 (7-11 OVC) following the loss.
Eastern Illinois did not waste any time to get things going as Joseph Duncan led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single and came around to score on a two-run home run by Jimmy Govern that put the Panthers ahead, 2-0.
Andrew Curran started an EIU rally in the bottom of the second as he got hit by a pitch prior to a Frankie Perrone walk to put runners on first and second. Duncan blasted a three-run home run later in the inning to score both Curran and Perrone and extended the EIU lead to 5-0.
Eastern Kentucky tied the score at five with three runs in the third, one in the fourth and one more run in the fifth. The Panthers responded with a two-out rally in the bottom-half of the fifth. Dougie Parks got hit by a pitch to start the rally and advanced to second on a balk. Eastern Illinois regained the lead, 6-5, following a Matt Albert RBI single.
Ryland Kerr got the Colonels going again in the top of the sixth with a lead-off single and advanced to third following a sacrifice bunt and a balk. Shae Sullivan tied the score at six on a sacrifice fly. Ben Fisher followed the sacrifice fly with a single to right and moved up to second on a walk by Alex Holderbach. After a passed ball moved the runners up to second and third, Nick Howie scored the pair with a two-run single and gave the Colonels an 8-6 advantage.
Eastern Kentucky added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a Matt Olive solo home run, but the Panthers worked their way back into the game in the bottom-half of the inning. A bunt single by Justin Smith and an EKU error put two runners on for Govern. Govern tied the game at nine with a three-run home run to center.
Back-to-back walks by Curran and Perrone put the Panthers in business in the eighth inning. Duncan provided the Panthers with the go-ahead run as he knocked an RBI single to plate Curran. Govern scored Perrone on the next play to extend the EIU lead to 11-9. The two-run advantage was all Michael Starcevich would need as he shut down the Colonels in the ninth and sealed the victory for the Panthers.
Starcevich allowed just one run over three innings of relief to earn his third win of the season.
Duncan and Govern continued to lead the EIU offense as the pair recorded three hits each. Beaman added two hits for the Panthers in the series finale.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4-1, MURRAY STATE 3-11
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State jumped out to an early lead Sunday afternoon with seven runs in the first two innings and 10 through four complete in the second game of a doubleheader at Reagan Field against Southeast Missouri, winning game two 11-1. The Racers failed to make a late comeback in the first game of the day, losing 4-3.
Brandon Gutzler started things off in the bottom of the first in game two with an RBI single to left field. The next batter, Tyler Lawrence then hit his sixth home run of the season over the left field fence and MSU (18-21, 8-10 OVC) had an early 3-0 lead.
In the second, an Adam Bauer RBI single got things going for the Racers and was immediately followed by a Gutzler three-run homer to deep left center. It was Gutzler’s ninth long ball of the year, which ties him with Ryan Perkins for the team lead.
After an hour and a half rain delay, the second of the series, MSU got back to work with a two-run double down the left field line from Bauer, scoring Aaron Bence and Jaron Robinson to make it 9-0 before Jack Hranec capped off the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to right center made the score 10-0. In the fifth, Kipp Moore belted his fifth homer of the year to cap off the scoring on the day for the Racers.
Bauer, Gutzler, Moore and Robinson all had two-hit games in the win while Bence, Bauer, Gutzler and Moore also scored a pair of runs each in the game two victory.
Luke Brown got his first career win in his first career start on the mound as he pitched five scoreless innings. Brown allowed just two hits and struck-out a career-best five batters in the win. Tyler Horsley and Trevor McMurray made appearances out of the MSU bullpen in the contest.
In game two, the Redhawks (21-17, 11-10 OVC) were able to jump out to an early lead with a run in both the first and second innings, before making the score 4-0 with a two-run top of the fourth. MSU tried clawing its way back as Gutzler delivered a two-RBI single to left in the eighth inning made it 4-2. In the ninth, Bence got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded which brought home Hranec. However, SEMO was able to shut the door in the next at-bat with a strikeout to end the Racer threat.
Austin Dubsky took the loss on the mound as he pitched four solid innings and allowed three earned runs off six hits. John Lollar pitched the remaining five innings and allowed no runs off seven hits while striking out a career-high nine batters.
UT MARTIN 3, SIUE 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - For the first time since the 2011 campaign, the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team recorded consecutive Ohio Valley Conference sweeps with its 3-2 win at SIU Edwardsville on Sunday afternoon. The Skyhawks were a perfect 5-0 this week, which was capped off by the first road sweep for UT Martin in exactly five years.
Just as they had done all week long, the Skyhawks recorded some keys outs with opposing runners in scoring position, and also picked up some timely hitting to propel the program to their sixth straight conference win (the most consecutive conference wins since joining the Division-I ranks), and put the squad right back in the thick of things for OVC Tournament contention.
UT Martin (17-20, 7-11 OVC) emphasized getting on the board first all weekend and today was no different as the Skyhawks pushed two runs across in the top of the third. An RBI-single from Tanner Wessling with the bases loaded gave UT Martin the lead. Dan Kerwin bounced into a double play the next at-bat, but that allowed Tyler Albright to score, as the Skyhawks took the 2-0 lead.
An Albright single in the fourth inning brought home Creighton Eldridge in the fourth, as UT Martin opened up a 3-0 lead over the Cougars. It was the second baseman’s team-leading 26th RBI on the season.
From there it was all Cain, as the right-hander worked around baserunners all day to shut down the SIUE offense. The Hickory, Miss. native allowed just three hits in the opening five frames for UT Martin. The Cougars picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth, but the damage was limited to just one as the Skyhawks maintained their 3-1 advantage.
Alex Evans came on in relief in the seventh inning and did not allow a run to score until the ninth. SIUE made it interesting with in the final frame as they tacked on one run on a Jackson Layton RBI-single, but that was all the offense the home team could manage as UT Martin picked up the 3-2 victory.
Cain (1-3) earned his first win in a Skyhawk uniform to add to his save from yesterday’s win, as he finished today with 6.2 innings pitched, allowing just one earned run. Evans (4) picked up the save as he finished this week with a 2-0 record to go along with today’s closing performance. Danny Ehrsam (3-1) took his first loss of the year for SIUE.
Ryan Helgren continued his hot week with a 2-3 performance for UT Martin, while Albright (2-5, one RBI) and Wessling (2-4, one RBI) also notched multiple base hits in the game.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 13, #26 TENNESSEE TECH 8
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Tennessee Tech baseball team dropped the third and final game of its non-conference series at Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon, as the Salukis (21-20) defeated the Golden Eagles (30-12) 13-8.
The Golden Eagles struck first as sophomore center fielder Alex Junior led off the game with a double down the right field line. Junior third baseman Trevor Putzig ripped the next pitch into right field, driving in a run for a 1-0 lead.
The Salukis struck back in the first, plating two off back-to-back RBI doubles to take a 2-1 lead. Southern Illinois turned up the offense in the next frame, scoring three times in the bottom of the second for a 5-1 advantage.
After two more runs in the fourth, the home team looked to blow the game away with the 7-1 lead, but the Golden Eagles stormed back. In the sixth, senior catcher Chris Brown flicked a single into right field, driving in two Tech runners to cut the lead down to 7-3.
Later in the frame, with the bases loaded, junior shortstop David Garza pounded the first pitch he saw down the left field line for a bases-clearing double. After the Salukis answered with a solo run in the bottom half, Tech came back in the seventh with a home run off the bat of junior first baseman Chase Chambers.
Southern Illinois once again had an answer, however, scoring five times in the bottom of the seventh to jump out to a 13-7 advantage. Putzig singled up the middle in the eighth, trimming the lead to 13-8. The Salukis held on from there, earning the victory.