WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 14, Lipscomb 11
@Belmont 10, Alabama A&M 7
Tennessee 7,
@Eastern Kentucky 6
AUSTIN PEAY 14, LIPSCOMB 11
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In his final home at-bat, third baseman Alex Robles hit a walk-off grand slam to complete a massive Austin Peay State University baseball comeback win, 14-11, against Lipscomb, Wednesday afternoon at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Austin Peay (22-25) faced a daunting 11-6 deficit entering its half of the ninth inning. The Govs began chipping away at that deficit as the first six batters reached base safely. Catcher Parker Phillips, right fielder Brett Newberg and second baseman Max Remy each delivered a RBI base hit. A Bisons wild pitch delivered the inning’s fourth run and the Govs trailed by only a run, 11-10 with no outs.
After pinch hitter Tyler Hubbard singled, Lipscomb (26-20) dipped into its bullpen and called on Dayton Tripp to try and close the door for reliever John Pryor. The Govs initially played for the tying run as shortstop Garrett Giovannelli used a sacrifice bunt to move the two runs into scoring position.
The Bisons responded by intentionally walking left fielder Cayce Bredlau, who had two home runs earlier in the contest, to load the bases. Robles took one pitch from Pryor before driving a 0-1 offering over the wall in left for a game-winning grand slam.
It was Robles’ second walk-off home run this season and came nearly two months after his first, March 12 against Jacksonville State. Coincidentally, it was the 73rd home run by the Governors this season, breaking a 16-year old record.
The late Govs rally made a winner of reliever Tyler Thompson (1-1), who notched his first collegiate win after tossing a scoreless top of the ninth.
Robles’ grand slam highlighted a 2-for-6, four RBI outing. Bredlau hit a home run in each of his first two at-bats and finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBI.
In addition, Phillips followed a 5-for-5 outing, Tuesday, with a 3-for-4, three RBI performance that included a home run in Wednesday’s outing. Remy’s ninth-inning RBI single capped his 4-for-5 outing as the Govs finished with 15 hits in the win.
Lipscomb’s Pryor (3-2) suffered the loss after allowing all six batters he faced to reach base, all six eventually scoring.
Offensively, second baseman Hunter Hanks, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI, hit a two-run home run as part of a five-run third inning that gave the Bisons an early 5-2 lead.
Third baseman Zeke Dodson followed Hunter’s home run with one of his own in the third and was 1-for-5 at the plate.
BELMONT 10, ALABAMA A&M 7
NASHVILLE - Belmont baseball faced Alabama A&M in its final home midweek contest of the 2017 campaign, coming away with a 10-7 victory Wednesday evening at E.S. Rose Park.
The Bruins bats exploded for 15 hits, highlighted by a pair of three-hit outings from juniors Rafael Bournigal (Mulberry, Fla.) and Kyle Conger (Franklin, Tenn.). The squad also saw three different players drive in multiple runs, including a trio from another junior, Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Ind.).
Both squads got off to a hot start as Alabama A&M used a pair of base knocks and a sacrifice bunt to hang up the first run of the game. Belmont followed up with a couple runs of their own – the first coming in the form of a leadoff homer from Bournigal, dropping one into the bullpen in left field. The Bruins plated the second run via bases loaded hit-by-pitch to take the lead, 2-1.
Sophomore Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) increased BU's advantage with a RBI base shot to left field in the second. The first baseman brought home senior Tyler Walsh (Evansville, Ind.) who started the frame with a single of his own and later advanced to second with his 17th stolen base of the season.
The Bulldogs stuck around, scoring three unanswered runs on a sacrifice fly and two-run long ball to reclaim the lead. AAMU came within one in the fourth on Cornelious Woods' sacrifice before Carlton Peppers put them up, 4-3, on a dinger to left-centerfield.
Belmont then compiled seven hits in the home half of the fifth to produce six runs and separate themselves from Alabama A&M, 9-4. The Bruins wore out the left field with four of their shots getting through the gap – accounting for five runs. Veteran duo Walsh and Bournigal each contributed with a two-bagger to cap off the scoring outburst.
The two continued to go back-and-forth as AAMU wasn't willing to go away quietly, plating three runs in the sixth on a couple of hits and a Bruin miscue. After coming within two, Belmont used a Bulldog error as well to make it a 10-7 game.
The scoring came to a standstill after the sixth as neither team could get much to go. Belmont reliever Zach Hodgkiss (Eads, Tenn.) came in for an inning of relief and tossed BU's only three up, three down frame of the game – striking out the final batter he saw. He was joined by senior Brennen Washington (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) who took the mound for the final stanza and collected his first save of the season, while rookie Michael Matter (Ft. Myers, Fla.) earned his first career win.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 7, TENNESSEE 6
RICHMOND, Ky. - Ben Fisher tied the program record for home runs in a season in Eastern Kentucky University’s 7-6 loss at home against the University of Tennessee on Wednesday.
Fisher, a first baseman from Richmond, hit his 21st of the season to tie the mark set last season by Kyle Nowlin.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh and EKU trailing 5-4, Shea Sulllivan doubled to left center to get the tying run in scoring position. Fisher then sent his record-tying home run over the wall in right center to put Eastern on top 6-5.
Tennessee (26-19) tied the game in the top of the eighth and then platted what proved to be the game-winning run in the ninth when Andre Lipcius hit a sacrifice fly. The Colonels got the tying run to second and the winning run to first with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t bring either home.
Fisher finished 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. Sullivan had a 2-for-5 night, scored twice and drove in three.
UT grabbed the early lead with five runs in the first three innings. Luc Lipcius hit a two-run home run over the wall in right center in a 4-run third inning. Max Bartlett added a two-run double down the left field line to cap the big frame.
After three straight walks to load the bases in the bottom of the fifth, Sullivan got the Colonels back in the game with a 1-out, 3-run double to the gap in right center. Moments later, the senior scored on a UT error with two outs in the inning to make it a 1-run game, 5-4.
The Colonels (23-26) were able to get back in the game due in large part to the relief pitching of Jack Piekos and Aaron Ochsenbein through the middle of the game. After a lead-off hit in the top of the fourth inning, the duo combined to retire 12 straight Volunteers through the end of the seventh inning.
Andre Lipcius snapped the streak with a lead-off single in the top of the eighth inning. He then scored to tie the game, 6-6, on a single to center by Bartlett.
Bartlett finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs for the Volunteers. Lipcius went 2-for-3, scored the game-tying run and drove in the game-winning run.