SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 16, Eastern Illinois 15 (10 innings)
@Belmont 14, Murray State 4
@Eastern Kentucky 10, Jacksonville State 7
@Pittsburgh 17,
SIUE 5
MOREHEAD STATE 16, EASTERN ILLINOIS 15 (10)
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Sophomore Niko Hulsizer hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth, and senior Ryan Kent delivered a one-out, walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Morehead State baseball team held off a relentless Eastern Illinois club for a 16-15, extra-inning win at Allen Field Sunday.
The Panthers (16-29, 9-12 OVC) were looking to hand the Eagles (28-16, 13-7 OVC) their first OVC sweep at home since they did so in 2013, but Morehead State pulled off the rally - something it could not do in the first two games of the series. The Eagles held 6-1, 11-6 and 14-11 leads before EIU managed to creep back every time it trailed.
In the ninth, EIU scored five times to erase the Eagles' 14-11 cushion with the go-ahead runs scoring on Jimmy Govern's two-run homer. MSU had pulled ahead in the eighth on Eli Boggess' RBI single, and Tyler Niemann's two-run double. Boggess finished the day with five hits, including two home runs. He has put together games on Sundays now with five and six hit-days this season.
With the Eagles down to their last three outs, Hulsizer blasted his OVC and nation-leading 20th home run to center field to tie it up. In the top of the inning, Boggess made a diving catch at third base and snared a hard grounder to give his team a chance to win it.
After a flutout down the left field line to open the frame, sophomore catcher Hunter Fain slammed a double into the left field corner. He was pinch-run for by freshman catcher Brody Shoupe, and then Kent nailed the game-winner on a 1-0 count from EIU reliever Michael Starcevich. The ball sailed over the head of the Panther centerfielder, allowing Shoupe to easily cruise home.
Boggess homered for the initial time in the first inning to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead and later nailed a solo shot to put his team on top 7-4 in the fifth. EIU made it tight (8-6) in the seventh, but an appeal by the Eagle defense worked, and the seventh run was disallowed following what appeared to a be two-run single by Matt Albert.
The Eagles pushed their lead to 11-6 in the bottom of the frame on sophomore shortstop Reid Leonard's three-run double to right field.
Of the Eagles' 19 hits, Niemann totaled four and Leonard and Hulsizer had three. EIU had 18 hits, led by three apiece from Albert and Logan Beaman.
Freshman righthander Dom Masullo locked down the final four outs to improve to 2-0.
BELMONT 14, MURRAY STATE 4
NASHVILLE - Belmont baseball's bats came alive in the series finale as the Bruins sped past the Racers, 14-4, Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park. Three different Bruins recorded multi-hit outings – contributing to the squads 13 hit outing.
The Bruins were led by offensive contributions from the junior duo of Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Ind.) and Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.). Kocher collected a career-best performance seven RBIs on three hits – all of them plating multiple runs, while Conger also shined at the plate going 3-for-4 and registering a pair of runs.
After struggling to get on the board in the first two games of the series the Bruins turned a new page in the finale, plating three runs in the opening frame. Junior Rafael Bournigal (Mulberry, Fla.) gave Belmont its first advantage of the series with a leadoff long ball over the left centerfield wall – the sole home run he's launched this season. BU went on to load the bases on a couple of hits and a free ride for Kocher to enter the batter's box. The junior slipped a base shot through the left side to bring in a pair of runs and increase the squad's lead, 3-0, in the first inning.
Belmont distanced itself in the second frame with a five-run stanza that saw the Bruins load the bases on three different occasions. They tallied their slew of runs with two outs, highlighted by a three RBI double from Kocher. The Zionsville, Indiana product accounted for five runs in his first two at bats to contribute to their 8-0 advantage.
Finding themselves in a hole early, the Racers managed to get a run off starting hurler Connor Etheridge (Springfield, Ill.) on a leadoff homer from Aaron Bence in the third. That's all they'd get off the righty as he minimalized the damage before BU tacked on three insurance runs in the fourth. It all started with a leadoff walk dealt to senior Nick Egli (Brentwood, Tenn.) for redshirt-freshman Matt Cogen (Franklin, Tenn.) to drive him in on a deep double to centerfield. Belmont would go on to plate a couple more on a Racer error and groundout to go up 11-1.
Murray State got a run back in the sixth with its second leadoff home run – this one launched by Davis Sims to bring the Racers within nine, 11-2. Junior Cully Day (Mohamet, Ill.) once again made it a ten-run contest in favor of the Bruins with a two-out double to left-centerfield to make it 12-2.
The Racers showed grit as they pieced together a four-hit seventh stanza that allowed them to score a couple of runs and cut into their deficit, 12-4, before sophomore reliever Casey Queener (Brentwood, Tenn.) would end the frame. Queener replaced Etheridge in the middle of the six and produced valuable time on the hill, striking out four batters in his 1.2 innings of work.
Kocher tallied his final two RBIs in the home half of the seventh, bringing his total to seven on the day. The third baseman ripped a two-bagger to the right-centerfield fence – scoring a couple more runs to lead, 14-4.
The game was called short due to threatening storms the remainder of the afternoon, finalizing Belmont's 14-4 victory in the top of the eighth frame.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 10, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
RICHMOND, Ky. - Home runs by Ben Fisher and Alex Holderbach fueled a 10-run fourth inning as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team overcame a 3-run deficit to beat Jacksonville State University, 10-7, in the series finale on Sunday at Earle Combs Stadium.
The Colonels (22-22, 8-13 OVC) erased a 3-0 deficit with 10 runs in the bottom of the fourth. Ben Fisher led off the inning with his 20th home run of the season. He is now one short of tying the EKU single season record.
Daniel McFarland tied the game with a 2-run single to left center. After back-to-back singles brought in two runs, Nick Howie extended it to a 7-3 lead with a 2-run double to left field. Two batters later, with two on, Alex Holderbach hit a 3-run home run over the wall in left field to make it a 10-3 game. It was his eighth of the season.
JSU (22-19, 10-11 OVC) closed the gap with a run in the fifth on Andrew Naismith’s single up the middle and a run in the sixth on Chase Robinson’s solo home run over the wall in right field. Naismith’s fly ball that just cleared the wall in left center in the top of the ninth added two more to the Gamecock total.
Holderbach finished 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs and three RBIs. Fisher was 1-for-4, scored twice and drove in one. Howie had two hits and drove in two. McFarland had a hit and two RBIs. Miles Jones finished with a pair of hits and a run scored.
Bryan Quillens started and allowed three runs on four hits in four innings of work. He walked two and struck out four. Quillens retired the final eight batters he faced after a rough start. Taylor Blair (1-0) earned the win after tossing one and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief. He walked one and struck out two.
Naismith finished 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs. Clayton Daniel went 2-for-4 for Jacksonville State. Nic Gaddis drove in two while finishing 1-for-4 with a walk.
PITTSBURGH 17, SIUE 5
PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh used two big innings Sunday to score a come-from-behind victory and win the series from SIUE baseball. The Panthers defeated the Cougars 17-5 in seven innings in Sunday's finale.
The Cougars fell to 18-24 with the loss. Pitt improved to 19-21. The two teams had agreed to play a 10-run rule prior to the series.
SIUE took the first lead for the third consecutive game in the series. Keaton Wright's two-run home run in the first gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
The two teams traded runs over the next two innings and SIUE led 4-2 going to the bottom of the third.
Eric Giltz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second. Jared McCunn singled to drive in a run in the third.
Pitt took control with an eight-run outburst in the third to lead 10-4. Pitt first basemen Caleb Parry came to the plate twice in the inning and drove in three runs in the inning.
Seven of Pitt's runs in the inning came with two outs. "We just needed to get that out and it was hard to come by at that point," Lyons said.
SIUE got a run back in the fifth on an RBI double by McCunn to cut the lead to 10-5. Pitt added a run in the fifth and then scored six more in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 17-5. The first two hitters reached in the seventh, but the Cougars failed to score a run.
SIUE used five pitchers in the game.
Danny Ehrsam (3-2) started and pitched the games' first 2 2/3 innings allowing five runs on seven hits in the loss. Brendan Miller faced four hitters without retiring one. He allowed four runs. Michael Shereyk finished the inning and pitched a total of 1 1/3 innings. He allowed a run on four hits. Tristan Walters allowed four runs in 1 2/3 innings. Mike Miller allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning.
The Cougars finished with 11 hits Sunday and averaged more than 10 hits a game in the three-game series.
Wright, McCunn, Alec Skender and Dustin Woodcock each finished with two hits. Wright and McCunn drove in two runs apiece.