SATURDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 2, Ball State 0 (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.)
UMass-Lowell 2,
Morehead State 1 (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.)
Austin Peay 9, South Dakota State 3 (Sauget, Ill.)
@Jacksonville State 10, Southern Illinois 9
Murray State 10, @Kansas 5
Lehigh 5,
Eastern Kentucky 4 (Wilmington, N.C.)
@College of Charleston 6,
Southeast Missouri 0
@Belmont 5, Youngstown State 1
@Southeastern Louisiana 13,
SIUE 6
@Troy 10-6,
UT Martin 4-2
Little Rock
at Tennessee Tech (postponed)
Eastern Illinois atULM (postponed)
MOREHEAD STATE 2, BALL STATE 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - In its opening game of the day, the Eagles shut out Ball State 3-0 in the opener behind sophomore Dalton Stambaugh and senior Kyle Cantu.
Stambaugh collected the win, going 7.0 innings and sitting down a career-best eight batters via strikeouts. He only gave up four hits and walked three. Cantu came on and tossed the final two for his first career save. He fanned three of the seven Cardinal batters he faced and allowed only one hit.
Morehead State broke through with a run in the first off BSU starter Nolan Gazouski. He struck out senior first baseman Tyler Niemann with two outs and the bases loaded, but the toss careened to the backstop and junior leftfielder Niko Hulsizer came home.
In the fourth, Hulsizer delivered an RBI on a ground out to third to score junior rightfielder Jake Hammon.
The Eagles tacked on their final run in the eighth when Hammon drew a bases-loaded free pass. Senior third baseman Eli Boggess led the hitters with two hits as MSU generated seven safeties.
UMASS-LOWELL 2, MOREHEAD STATE 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - In its second game of the day, senior David Calderon and junior David Looney fanned 13 UMass Lowell hitters, but the Eagle bats only mustered one hit despite taking 15 free bases (13 walks and 2 hit batters) as MSU fell 2-1.
In the nightcap, senior second baseman Braxton Morris tied the school record with five walks taken.
UMass Lowell starter Henry Funaro (1-0), a freshman, walked eight batters but went through five without allowing a hit. Four other Riverhawk hurlers issued five more free passes, but Morehead State left 14 runners on base and struck out nine times.
Calderon (0-1) pitched seven frames and struck out a career-best nine. Looney, making his first pitching appearance at MSU and his first at all since last April, sat down four.
Down 2-0 in the ninth, junior designated hitter Adam Rapp broke up the no-hit bid with two outs and two strikes. He laced an RBI single to right field to score Boggess.
UML pushed ahead 2-0 with a run-producing single in the fifth and a solo homer in the seventh.
AUSTIN PEAY 9, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 3
SAUGET, Ill. - Austin Peay State University’s baseball team took advantage of a drove of pitching miscues in the seventh inning to break open a close game and post a 9-3 victory against South Dakota State, Saturday, at GCS Credit Union Ballpark.
Trailing 2-1 entering the seventh, Austin Peay (2-0) capitalized on five walks, three wild pitches, two passed balls and a mental miscue to score six runs in the seventh. Left fielder Brandon Kelley, who made his first APSU start, opened the inning with a bunt single and shortstop Garrett Kueber followed with a sacrifice bunt that SDSU mishandled, giving the Govs two runners to start the inning.
The duo executed a double steal before the first Jackrabbits passed ball allowed Kelley to score, tying the game. After second baseman Garrett Giovannelli walked, a wild pitch allowed Kueber to score, giving the Govs a 3-2 lead. Giovannelli would later score on catcher David Martinez’ sacrifice fly to provide the game-securing run.
The game was a pitcher’s duel through six innings. Austin Peay starter Jacques Pucheu allowed a one-out home run in the first inning but then retired the next 11 batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single in the sixth that eventually scored. SDSU starter Brady Moxham dodged in and out of trouble, including the Govs loading the bases in the first, through his five innings, but held the Govs to one run on four hits.
Govs reliever Greg Leban (1-0) picked up the win in his debut, allowing one run while retiring three of the six batters he faced. Reliever Harley Gollert followed by retiring eight of the nine batters he faced to finish the game. Pucheu (nine strikeouts), Leban (three) and Gollert (two) combined for 14 strikeouts in 34 batters faced.
Offensively, Giovannelli paced the Govs with a 2-for-4 outing that saw him walk, steal two bases and scored three times. Outfielder Nick Walker also had two hits while designated hitter Andrew Flaherty and catcher David Martinez had two RBI each.
Otis Roby (0-1) suffered the loss for the Jackrabbits after allowing four runs (one earned) on a hit and two walks in 1.1 innings. The SDSU offense was held to three hits.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 10, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 9
OXFORD, Ala. - Jacksonville State has used the long ball in the first two games of the season at Choccolocco Park and the fourth one in two days lifted JSU to a 10-9 come-from-behind win over Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Taylor Hawthorne delivered the game-winner with a three-run home run that was wind-aided on a breezy day at Choccolocco Park. Hawthorne's 12th home run of his career capped off a second comeback for the Gamecocks (2-0) after they erased a five-run deficit in the seventh with a five-run inning to match the Salukis (0-2) at 7-7. SIU responded with a one-out single with the bases loaded to regain the lead, 9-7, in the eighth.
Junior Matthew Hammers sparked the Gamecocks in his two at bats in the contest. In a pinch-hitting role in JSU's big seventh inning, Hammers drilled his first career home run to trim the SIU lead to 7-4. Hammers, from McDonough, Georgia, started the second comeback with a one-out single. Senior Clayton Daniel, who had three hits on the day after not recording a hit in the opener on Friday, singled to left with two outs and moved in to scoring position after swiping second before Hawthorne's home run.
Hawthorne, who has moved to the centerfield spot, drove in four runs all together in his last two plate appearances. Junior catcher Nic Gaddis also bounced back from a hitless opener with a three-hit day, including a pair of doubles. His second double evened the score at 7-7 after SIU intentionally walked Andrew Naismith to put runners on the corner for Jax State.
For the second consecutive day head coach Jim Case used many arms against SIU. Junior Derrick Adams, a preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference pick, worked the first 4.1 innings and was touched for five hits and four runs. SIU put together a three-run fourth off of Adams with a back-to-back home run by J.T Webb and Drew Curtis. Adam recorded a strikeout and did not allow a free pass.
Three new faces on the pitching staff made their debuts until senior Grant Chandler started the ninth inning. Junior Austin Brewster, from Trussville, Alabama via Shelton State Community College went 1.1 innings and posted three strikeouts in his time on the bump. Redshirt freshman Sean Rape also went 1.1 before Cody Willingham finished the eighth inning. Willingham, a native of Rainsville, Alabama, joined JSU after two seasons at Southern Union Community College.
Chandler induced a pair of fly ball outs to start the ninth before Case called on redshirt sophomore Tyler Wilburn to close it down by facing SIU's Logan Blackfan, who had five hots already in two days before the at bat. Wilburn stuck out Blackfan to register his first career save in a Gamecock uniform.
MURRAY STATE 10, KANSAS 5
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Ramsey Scott got a pair of huge home run blasts and collected three RBI as Murray State picked up its first win of the season in a 10-5 victory Saturday afternoon at Kansas.
Scott went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a pair of walks in the win while Davis Sims also tallied three ribbies as he went 2-for-5 at the dish with two doubles and scored a pair of runs.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the second, Scott’s first bomb tied the score at 1-1. Later in the inning, Bryan Chilton doubled to right to give the Racers (1-1) a 2-1 lead as Ryan Perkins scored. MSU would push its lead to 4-1 in the fourth as Perkins and Scott scored thanks to a wild pitch and an error by the Jayhawks’ (1-1) catcher.
An infield single from Perkins with the bases loaded in the fifth inning pushed the Racers’ lead to 5-1 before KU answered with a three-run homer in the bottom half of the inning, cutting the MSU lead down to 5-4.
In the sixth, the two teams traded runs as Sims got an RBI groundout to make it 6-4 before Kansas’ run in the bottom part of the inning got it back to a one-run game.
Scott and Sims got back to work in the eighth inning to help the Racers respond as Sims got a two-RBI double down the left field line to bring in Dylan Letellier and Jaron Robinson. In the next at-bat, Scott’s second homer of the day went over the batter’s eye in center and put the Racers up 10-5.
Alec Whaley picked up the win out of the bullpen as he shut the Jayhawks down the last half of the contest. Whaley pitched 4.2 innings, allowed just one run, and tied a career-high with three strikeouts. Peyton Hayes made his first career start for the Racers in the game, pitching 4.1 innings, striking-out six batters, and allowing four runs on five hits.
MSU drew six walks in the win while allowing just two and had six extra-base hits to Kansas’ three. The Jayhawks also committed four errors on the day while the Racers were clean in the field.
LEHIGH 5, EASTERN KENTUCKY 4
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team saw Lehigh University score three runs in the final two innings to come from behind for a 5-4 victory on Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Colonels (0-2) had a 4-2 lead going into the top of the eighth. Lehigh (1-1) closed the gap to one and then plated two in the ninth to take the lead. The Mountain Hawks tied it when James Bleming scored on a fielding error and took the lead when Jeff Shanfeldt scored on a throwing error.
EKU fell behind 1-0 after the top of the first inning, but manufactured a pair of runs in the bottom half to take the lead. Nick Howie hit a one-out double to right field and Daniel McFarland was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. The two moved up a base on a wild pitch. Howie then scored on a passed ball. With runners on the corners, the Colonels tried to execute a double steal. Tyler Romanik was tagged out in a run down, but not before McFarland scored from third to make it 2-1.
Eastern added two more in the bottom of the second on a double by Chris Botsoe that scored Ryland Kerr and Daniel Harris IV.
Austin Perry started on the mound for EKU. He allowed two unearned runs on seven hits in four innings. The senior transfer from Milligan College walked one and struck out six.
Logan Teague threw three and two-thirds innings of relief. He gave up one run on two hits, walked two and got seven of his 11 outs by strike out.
Five different players had one hit each for EKU. Botsoe finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs. The Eastern Kentucky pitching staff totaled 14 strike outs compared to just six for Lehigh.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 6, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Trevor Ezell went 3-for-3 as Southeast Missouri (0-2) dropped game two of its series to the College of Charleston (0-2), 6-0, Saturday at Patriots Point.
SEMO and CofC were locked up in a scoreless game through four innings before the Cougars broke the deadlock with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.
All of CofC's tallies were unearned in the fifth as two hit batsmen and a two-out error helped the cause. Tommy Richter delivered a clutch two-out single to drive in a pair of runs.
The Cougars added a run on a base hit by K.J. Bryant in the sixth and scored twice more in the seventh to complete their first shutout of the season. Both of CofC's runs in the seventh were unearned as the Cougars capitalized on another two-out SEMO error.
Four pitchers had a hand in the five-hit shuout for CofC. Clay Hunt (1-0) picked up the win after tossing three innings of no-hit baseball and inducing an inning-ending double play with his first pitch with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth.
Junior right-hander Logan Spalt (0-1) suffered the loss. Spalt struck out six and surrendered three unearned runs in 4.2 innings during his first career NCAA Division I start.
Ezell accounted for three of SEMO's five hits for the day, all of which were singles. Justin Dirden and Alex Nielsen collected the other hits.
Defensively, the Redhawks committed three errors.
BELMONT 5, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 1
NASHVILLE - Belmont baseball compiled a solid effort to defeat Youngstown State 5-1 Saturday night at E.S. Rose Park. Despite being delayed for more than three hours because of rain, BU came to play.
Starting Pitcher senior Connor Etheridge (Springfield, Ill.) came out hot throwing two quick strikes on his first two pitches of the contest. The Bruins defense showed up early getting their first three outs after just four batters. Senior Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.) was the first at-bat for the bruins blasting a double. Conger later advanced to scoring position, but was unable to make it across home plate.
The Penguins made their first real offensive threat in the top of the third. After their second batter smacked a double, Etheridge threw two consecutive strikeout's to end the inning and keep Youngstown scoreless.
The Bottom of the third was a big inning for the Bruins. Conger once again got things going with a single. He then stole second and third bases on consecutive plays to put himself in scoring position. Conger made his way across the plate after Chas Hadden got a clean hit for a single. Sophomore Matt Cogen (Franklin, Tenn.) had a good at-bat to advance on a base on balls and advanced to third. He got Belmont's second run of the inning with the help of an RBI from junior Devon Gardner (Maryville, Tenn.)
Belmont kept up the pace defensively putting together two consecutive three up, three down innings to keep the Penguins scoreless.
Youngstown would make their presence known in the top of the sixth. After two hits and a stolen base, Blaze Glenn laid down another hit to send Cameron Murray across the plate to put the heat on the bruins. Belmont was able to catch a man stealing on the next play to end the inning and keep the Penguins from closing the gap.
After an unproductive bottom of the sixth for the Bruins, Youngstown tried to take advantage. With YSU runners on first and third with one out remaining, BU's defense stepped up once again to keep the Penguins from tying the game.
Things heated up once again for the Bruins in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Jordan Henshaw (New Market, Ala.) sent a bomb over the right field fence for his first home run of his collegiate career to increase the Belmont lead to 3-1. Two batters later, Cogen hit a double and later advanced to third. He took advantage of a wild pitch with the bases loaded to make his way across home plate for the second run of the inning.
Right handed hurler, freshman Logan Bowen (Bowling Green, Ky.) was called upon at the top of the eighth inning. In his first inning of action he faced just three batters, throwing his first strikeout to end the inning.
Belmont never let up on the gas with Austin Reynolds up to bat at the bottom of the eighth. He hit a single and steals second base on consecutive plays. Reynolds then took advantage of a Penguin error and made his way from second to home to round out Belmont's scoring on the night (5-1).
YSU made a last-ditch effort in the top of the ninth, but Belmont never let another run score to secure the 5-1 victory.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 13, SIUE 6
HAMMOND, La. - SIUE baseball collected 10 hits for the second consecutive day, but it wasn't enough. Southeastern Louisiana used a pair of big innings Saturday to take the second game of a three-game series, 13-6.
SIUE starter Brock Fulkerson faced the minimum in the first inning before the Lions jumped on the Cougars' right-hander in the second.
Following back-to-back walks to start the inning, Southeastern centerfielder Bryce Steckler opened the scoring with a two-run triple. Rightfielder Mike Taylor picked up a one-out RBI single to make it 3-0. Brennan Breaud singled to drive home a run and Cody Grosse added an RBI-groundout to put the Lions up 5-0.
Fulkerson lasted into the fourth allowing five runs on four hits and five walks. He struck out six and took the loss.
The Cougars scored single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings to pull within two and 5-3.
Jackson Layton, who was a late addition to the lineup, homered to lead off the third inning. Peyton Cordova-Smith led off the fourth inning with a double and later came around to score on an Aaron Goecks RBI on fielder's choice. The Cougars third run came thanks to four walks in the sixth. Bret Fehr picked the RBI on a bases loaded pass.
Southeastern widened the gap again with five runs on five hits and two walks in the bottom of the sixth inning. All five runs came against SIUE reliever Chris Robinson.
Robinson finished the fourth inning and tossed a scoreless fifth inning before bowing out in the sixth. He gave up five runs over two innings in relief. He walked three.
Southeastern scored two runs in the seventh, including an unearned run thanks to a throwing error, to go up 12-3.
Bret Fehr drove in two runs with a single in the eighth inning to make it 12-5. It was 13-5 when Goecks picked up his second RBI of the day in the ninth with an RBI double.
Lyons said he was generally pleased with the offense, singling out Feher, Cordova-Smith, Layton and Goecks, who all had two hits.
Southeastern Louisiana finished with 13 hits. Breaud was 4 for 4 with two RBIs. Grosse was 1 for 5 with three RBIs.
TROY 10-6, UT MARTIN 4-2
TROY, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball squad suffered a sweep on the day as the Skyhawks dropped both ends of a doubleheader, losing 10-4 in Game 1 and falling 6-2 in Game 2 to the Troy Trojans.
On the day, Anthony Adduci tallied a team-high three hits while Casey Harford pounded out two hits (including a home run) and racked up three RBI’s. Both Blake Davis and Ben Aslett had a pair of hits combined in the twinbill.
The Skyhawk pitching staff saw promise as Jefferey O’Doherty tossed an inning of shutout baseball in Game 1 while Winston Cannon twirled a quality start and Konnor Aherin threw for 1.1 innings of near-perfect work in the nightcap.
UT Martin will look to salvage the fourth and final game of the season-opening set on Sunday, Feb. 18. First pitch for the Skyhawks against Troy is scheduled for 1 p.m.
In the first game of the day, UT Martin was led by offensively by Aslett (two hits), Davis (two hits) and Harford (one hit, three RBI’s). On the hill, O’Doherty provided a scoreless inning out of the bullpen in his Skyhawk debut.
The Skyhawks looked to be in store for an early strike as Jordan Stoner led off the game with a hit by pitch. Aslett then singled to the right side, moving Stoner a bag over. Creighton Eldridge then moved his teammates over with a sacrifice bunt but run support would not prove to be in the cards for the inning.
UT Martin found the hot bat in the second inning as Davis belted a ground-rule double to left center field. Collin Edwards was then hit by a pitch, putting two men on base for Harford’s three-run dinger to left field, giving the Skyhawks a 3-2 advantage.
After Sam Folks (0-1) found his footing, the sophomore retired the side in his third frame of work. The UT Martin third inning saw Tyler Albright draw a walk and steal second base but could not be driven home.
O’Doherty came in during the fifth inning in relief of Folks to pitch a scoreless frame, including a strikeout.
The Skyhawk sixth inning was almost a breakout opportunity. Davis led off the frame with a single before Edwards bounced into a fielder’s choice. Edwards followed by swiping second base before moving to third on a Harford groundout. Stoner then legged out an infield single, plating Edwards and narrowing the score to 7-4. Aslett would then rip a single to move Stoner to third base but both runners ended up stranded.
Austin Buzick entered the game in the seventh inning, ringing up two Trojans in the frame. Buzick did concede a run in the eighth but he was able to record another strikeout in his Skyhawk debut.
In game two, the Troy offense was held off the scoreboard in all but one inning, but that one frame proved costly to UT Martin as all six runs crossed the plate in the seventh inning. Cannon’s six quality innings allowed the Skyhawks to lead for most of the game as he did not allow an extra-base hit and tallied five strikeouts along the way. The offense was led by Adduci (two hits, one RBI) and Eldridge (one hit, one RBI, two walks).
UT Martin would yet again attempt to get off on the right foot as Stoner was nailed by a pitch and later swiped second base to lead off the game. Later, Eldridge drew a walk before Adduci laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over but it was to no avail.
Cannon came out ready for work as he forced a flyout and recorded a pair of whiffs in the first inning.
Following another shutout frame by Cannon, the Skyhawks would get on the scoreboard first in the top of the third as Stoner drew a walk, Harford singled and Eldridge doubled down the third base line, plating Stoner and giving UT Martin a 1-0 lead. Adduci then singled to right center, scoring Harford and putting the Skyhawks up by a 2-0 margin.
Cannon took advantage of the run support, shutting down Troy in each of the next four innings. He stranded a pair of Trojans on the basepaths in the third and fourth frames before retiring the side in order in the fifth. Following a hit batsman to begin the bottom of the sixth, the sophomore righty from Cookeville, Tenn. mowed down the next three hitters to keep the Skyhawks in front by a 2-0 margin.
Following a pair of walks to lead off the seventh inning, Cannon departed the game and was replaced by Zack Denney (0-1). Troy used that momentum to push across six runs on three hits and two UT Martin errors in the frame, taking its first lead of the game in the process.
Aherin produced a scoreless inning in the eighth as the Skyhawk offense got a runner on board in both the eighth and ninth innings. However, UT Martin could not manufacture any more offense to trim its deficit.