SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 16, Eastern Kentucky 3
@Murray State 8, UT Martin 5
@Jacksonville State 8, SIUE 4
@Tennessee Tech 11, Morehead State 8
@Belmont 9, Furman 5
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 16, EASTERN KENTUCKY 3
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Senior student-athletes were on display Saturday afternoon at Capaha Field as Southeast defeated Eastern Kentucky (24-32, 10-20) by a score of 16-3, completing the three-game sweep of the Colonels.
The Redhawks finish the regular season with a 28-24 overall record and a 16-14 clip in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks will carry the fifth seed in next week's OVC Tournament and will play No. 4 Jacksonville State at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning in Oxford, Alabama.
Southeast outhit the Colonels 17-11. Five seniors in the lineup combined for 10 hits and nine RBI. Senior Chris Caffrey put together a three-hit, two-RBI day. Seniors Dan Holst, Chris Osborne, and Brian Lees all had two hits while fellow senior Clayton Evans had a two-run home run.
Not to be outdone by the seniors, freshman Danny Wright had a great day at the plate going 3-for-4 with three RBI. He finished the day with two doubles and a triple. Kyle Bottger finished with a two-hit performance and also drove in a couple.
Nate Green (3-3) pitched six innings in his start. He surrendered just one run on seven EKU hits. Joey Burris and Matthew Wade each pitched an inning in relief. Seniors Jared Waldhoff and Robert Beltran combined for the final inning of the game.
EKU starter Bryan Quillens (3-4) pitched two innings in his start, allowing five runs on five hits. EKU used six total pitchers on Saturday.
A five spot in the second put the Redhawks out in front first for the first in the series. The inning began with a single by Caffrey and a double by Lees. Both came in to score on a double just fair down the third base line by Wright to put SEMO on top. Connor Basler drove in Wright to add to the early lead. Holst extended the lead and his on-base streak to 40 games with one swing when he homered off the top of the wall in left, making it a 5-0 lead.
Southeast scored three more in the third to tack onto the lead. With runners on the corners, Lees flied to right, deep enough for Tristen Gagan to tag up and score. Bottger doubled to right center and Caffrey scored all the way from first to make it 7-0. Bottger advanced to third on a wild pitch followed by Basler drawing a two-out walk. For the second week in a row, the Redhawks successfully executed a double steal to widen the lead to eight.
EKU touched home for the first time in the top of the fourth. Ben Fisher led off with a single, advanced on a base hit by Alex Holderbach then again after a 4-6-3 double play. He scored on a Nick Howie RBI single to break up the shutout, 8-1.
Caffrey's third hit of the day was a two-RBI double off the wall in dead center in the fourth to widen the lead to 10-1.
Another five-run inning in the seventh put the Redhawks up a bunch. Basler reached on an error to lead off the inning. Evans stepped in and blasted his fourth home run of the season over the wall in left to start the scoring. Holst singled then scored when Osborne split the gap in right center. Lees followed suit with a triple to easily score Osborne. Wright and Osborne traded places for the fifth run of the inning, putting the Redhawks up 15-1.
Daniel McFarland hit a two-out double then scored on a throwing error by Basler in the seventh inning. EKU's third run came an inning later when Fisher scored on a pinch hit single to left by Logan Stephens, 15-3.
An RBI groundout by Bottger in the bottom of the inning concluded the scoring for the day, 16-3.
Cornell Nixon, Fisher, and McFarland all had two hits for EKU.
MURRAY STATE 8, UT MARTIN 5
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State had to sit through over three and a half hours of weather delays on Saturday at Reagan Field, but in the end, the Racers sent the seniors out with an 8-5 victory over UT Martin to close the regular season.
UT Martin (25-29, 12-18 OVC) took the first lead of the contest after the first rain delay, which lasted almost an hour. The Skyhawks were able to score in the top of the third inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Racers (27-28, 15-15 OVC) were able to score a pair of unearned runs to take a 2-1 lead. Reed Thompson scored on an RBI groundout from Adam Bauer to tie the game and in the next at-bat, a Brandon Gutzler sacrifice fly RBI brought home Aaron Bence.
In the middle of the fourth, the two teams took their second delay of the game - this one lasted nearly two hours for lightning. The Racers got one batter in the bottom of the fourth, a Davis Sims double before one final lightning delay was called, lasting 45 minutes. Once play resumed, a Jaron Robinson RBI single up the middle brought home Sims and put MSU out front 3-1.
After a UTM run in the fifth made it 3-2, Jack Hranec dealt the key blow in the bottom of the frame as his three-run home run to right center put the Racers up 6-2. It was Hranec’s 11th homer of the season. Ryan Perkins made the score 7-2 in the sixth with an RBI single.
The Skyhawks would not go away quietly however, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to make the score 7-5. Robinson would give MSU another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when he led off with a triple to right center and would come home to score on the play thanks to a Skyhawk error. Chad Gendron was then able to close the door in the ninth to preserve the Senior Day victory.
Robinson led the Racers at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs while Bauer was 2-of-4 at the dish, the only to Racers to record multiple hits on the day. UTM actually out-hit the Racers in the contest, 13-10.
Luke Brown got the win in the pre-determined split start as he went three innings and allowed just the one run on three hits. John Lollar, Justin Perkins and Derrik Watson all appeared in relief in the win while Gendron picked up his seventh save on the year by pitching the final three innings.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 8, SIUE 4
OXFORD, Ala. - Jacksonville State will have a lot of momentum heading in to the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament next week after completing the weekend sweep of SIU Edwardsville on Saturday with an 8-4 decision at Choccolocco Park.
It was JSU's first weekend sweep of the season as it down the Cougars 8-2 on Thursday night and rallied late for a 3-1 win on Friday afternoon. Sunday's game was called after the top of the eighth after the third lightning delay was issued. The Gamecocks recorded their 30th win of the season to extend a streak of five straight seasons in which a Jim Case club has reached the 30-win plateau. The 2017 season marks the 14th season that Jax State has collected 30 or more wins under Case in his 16 seasons in charge of the program. JSU finished the season tied for third in the league with Belmont with identical 17-13 records in the OVC, but the Bruins win the tiebreaker for tournament seeding after taking the season series with JSU.
JSU's focus shifts to the postseason for the 14th consecutive season as it will be the No. 4 seed in the 2017 edition of the OVC Baseball Tournament, which will commence in Oxford at Choccolocco Park on Tuesday, May 23. Austin Peay, the No. 7 seed and UT Martin, the No. 8 seed, will face off on Tuesday evening before the double elimination portion of the eight-team event gets going on Wednesday. JSU's first action in the tournament will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday against No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri. The Gamecocks and Redhawks played for the tournament title last season and were the preseason favorites coming in to the 2017 season. SEMO took 2-of-3 from JSU in April at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Jax State claimed the final game of the series, 17-7.
For the third consecutive day, JSU jumped out to a lead on SIUE and did not fall behind the rest of the way. On a day that JSU honored its six seniors prior to the game, it was a junior that had the big day as Trent Simpson finished with four RBI on the day, highlighted by a two-run blast that keyed a five-run fourth that opened up the game to an 8-1 advantage. Simpson recorded the first two RBI on a first inning sacrifice fly and the Oxford, Alabama designated hitter posted an RBI on a ground out in JSU's two-run third that broke up a 1-1 contest. Freshman Andrew Naismith had an RBI single in the third to give JSU a 3-1 lead.
JSU pieced together its five-run fourth on five hits off of SIUE starter Danny Ehrsam. Senior Josh Bobo started the inning with a double and scored on Nolan Greckel's single to left field. Bobo finished the regular season with a pair of hits. Juniors Clayton Daniel and Taylor Hawthorne put together back-to-back base hits before Simpson's big blast. Daniel and Hawthorne combined for five of JSU's 13 hits on the day as Daniel collected hits in his first three plate appearances and Hawthorne had a pair of hits. Daniel finished the OVC slate having a hit in 14 consecutive league games and pushed his on base streak in the league to 28 straight games. The Guntersville, Alabama native finished the season hitting .403 against the OVC. Hawthorne also extended his hitting streak against the OVC to 13 consecutive games.
A big cushion was all senior Joe McGuire need on the mound as he picked up his eighth win of the season and fifth in the OVC after a solid five innings of work. The Oxford, Alabama right hander was touched for five hits but allowed one run and tallied a pair of strikeouts. Junior Grant Chandler made his second appearance of the weekend and pitched a pair of scoreless frames and fanning three in the outing. Redshirt freshman Tyler Wilburn started the eighth and was touched for three runs on three hits. Senior Michael McCreless came in to end the SIUE threat with the bases loaded. The Huntsville, Alabama right hander induced a fly ball to centerfield to end the inning before the rain came. It was his second save of the season and third of his career.
Five of the six seniors contributed in the win as Peyton Williams carded a pair of hits and A.J. Reynolds made his 31st start in the outfield. Nate Sylvester shined on Friday with four innings of work out of the bullpen to pick up the win.
TENNESSEE TECH 11, MOREHEAD STATE 8
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
BELMONT 9, FURMAN 5
NASHVILLE - In a weather shortened season finale the Belmont baseball seniors shined in the last home contest of their careers, rolling past Furman 9-5 in an eight-inning game three Saturday afternoon at E.S. Rose park.
Six veterans contributed to the Bruins victory, including multi-hit performances from Nick Egli (Brentwood, Tenn) and Tyler Walsh (Evansville, Ind.) who both connected for a pair. The squad also enjoyed stellar outings from a couple of their senior pitchers, including Christopher Carroll (Hendersonville, Tenn.) who earned his first career start on the hill and recorded a quick three up, three down frame to start day including fanning two batters.
The Bruins then went on to take an early 2-0 lead in the home half of the inning courtesy of a RBI two-bagger from redshirt-freshman Matt Cogen (Franklin, Tenn.) and a sacrifice fly from Hunter Holland (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.). Their advantage was short lived as Furman went on to plate three runs of their own in the following stanza to go up, 3-2, in a similar manner.
The veterans continued to make a mark in their final game as Egli blasted a two-run bomb over the right field fence to put the Bruins back on top in the third. It was the designated hitter's 16th long ball of the year, moving him into fourth all-time in program history for home runs in a single season.
The Bruins made it a two-run game in the fifth using a trio of base shots to score a run. Junior Kyler Conger and Egli got things started to put runners on the corners and allow BU to threaten with only one out. Cogen then drove in his second of three runs on the day, lacing a single to right field before the Paladins would get the run back.
Furman made it a 5-4 game with a RBI single through the left side in the sixth. It would be the sole run that sophomore reliever Casey Queener (Brentwood, Tenn.) would relinquish in five innings of work, striking out five batters and only allowing five hits to eventually earn the win.
Junior Alex Ward (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) once again extended Belmont's lead to two runs in the seventh with a RBI single to right field. A leadoff walk and base hit from Holland, who made it six consecutive games in which he's collected at least one hit, put runners on the corners for Ward to bring home the run and make it a 6-4 game.
For the third time the Paladins got themselves in striking distance, coming within one before Brennan Washington (Murfreesboro, Tenn) came in and retired the final two Paladins to register his third save of the year. The Bruins would finally put them away for one final time – scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth before the game was prematurely called. Senior duo Walsh and Clay Payne (Powell, Tenn.) helped solidify the win with a double from Walsh and a perfect bunt from Payne to advance him to threaten. From then on BU used a fielder's choice and a Furman error to take game three, 9-5.