SUNDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 7, @Eastern Illinois 0
Tennessee Tech 8, @SIUE 4
@Austin Peay 19, Murray State 7
Southeast Missouri 8, @UT Martin 7
@Mercer 5,
Eastern Kentucky 4
JACKSONVILLE STATE 7, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Jacksonville State claimed an Ohio Valley Conference road weekend series in dominating fashion with a 7-0 win over Eastern Illinois on Sunday at Coaches Stadium.
The Gamecocks notched their first conference series and moved to 3-3 in league play after the first two weekends of the OVC slate. JSU improved to 12-6 overall and will head to Kennesaw, Georgia on Wednesday for a midweek match up with the Owls of Kennesaw State. First pitch versus the Owls is set for 4 p.m. CST. EIU fell to 8-10 on the season and 1-2 in OVC action.
The Sunday blanking was the second of the weekend for Jax State as it opened the road set with an 11-0 decision on Friday. EIU rebounded to win Saturday's contest, 9-5. It's the first time JSU has posted a pair of shutout wins in a conference series since it did the same to EIU in 2008. The Gamecocks have now blanked the opposition five times this season, including the last two Sunday contests.
The dominance started on the mound with junior Derrick Adams, a preseason All-OVC pick, returned to his sophomore form on the mound. Adams quieted EIU for 7.2 innings and collected eight strikeouts on the day. The Decatur, Alabama native faced two over the minimum and did not allow a walk in the outing. EIU did not get a runner on second base in the contest and only touched Adams for four singles.
While Adams was silencing EIU on the mound, the Gamecocks put together quality situational plate appearances. JSU jumped on EIU starter Tyler Jones with an RBI ground out by senior Trent Simpson. Senior Clayton Daniel, who turned in a 3-for-4 day at the plate, sored after the first hit of the day in the opening frame. JSU pushed the second run of the day without a hit as senior Nolan Greckel scored on a wild pitch.
Senior Hayden White, making his first start at catcher this season, delivered an RBI single to right field, pushing freshman Isaac Alexander home in the sixth for the third run of the day. Alexander reached with a one-out double. Alexander finished the day as one of four Gamecocks with multiple hits. JSU posted 11 hits off of five different EIU pitchers.
Jax State added insurance runs late in the contest with a two-run eighth and ninth. Freshman Alex Stratchan drove in a run with a ground out the right side of the infield, followed by redshirt freshman Grant Atkins with his first career hit and RBI.
Senior Taylor Hawthorne, who also had two hits on the day, had added an RBI in the ninth. With his pair of hits, the Prattville, Alabama product has reached base in 39 of the last 40 games dating back to last season. He snapped his consecutive streak on Saturday at EIU.
Simpson got the final four outs of the contest with a strikeout to his credit. In the series, JSU pitching fanned 27 Panthers and walked just seven.
TENNESSEE TECH 8, SIUE 4
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Clutch hitting and some huge insurance runs earned the Tennessee Tech baseball team its first series sweep of the 2018 campaign Sunday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles (14-5, 5-1) claimed an 8-4, Ohio Valley Conference victory at SIUE (5-12, 1-5).
Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, beginning with an RBI double down the left field line off the bat of junior Kevin Strohschein. Senior first baseman Chase Chambers followed up with an RBI ground out to second base, increasing the edge to 2-0. After singling early in the frame, senior Trevor Putzig scored the third run of the frame on a passed ball.
An RBI double down the left field line from Nick Osborne made it a 4-0 Golden Eagle lead in the fourth, but the Cougars were not about to bow out in the contest.
In the bottom of the fifth, SIUE made its comeback bid, scoring off Tech starter Devin Lancaster with an RBI single. After loading the bases, the Cougars took advantage of some early struggles by reliever Ethan Roberts to tie the game at 4-4. Roberts rallied back to strike out the final two batters of the inning and escape further damage.
The Tech offense backed up its pitcher in the sixth, as Osborne lifted a single to center field that eventually led to a David Garza score – after a failed run down attempt by the SIUE defense – for the eventual game-winning run.
The Golden Eagles gathered three important insurance runs in the ninth, highlighted by a leadoff single from Brennon Kaleiwahea and subsequent RBI triple to right center field by Alex Junior. Chambers recorded his second RBI of the game after reaching on a fielding error. Junior also came around to score on the error, flashing his blazing speed to give Tech an 8-4 lead.
Roberts earned the victory out of the bullpen, moving to 2-1 on the season. Junior Ty King proved highly effective in relief, tossing three scoreless innings while holding SIUE to just a single hit. Redshirt freshman Tyler Sylvester completed the final frame for Tech, striking out the final batter to clinch the sweep.
Strohschein boasted a strong offensive performance, finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored and two walks.
AUSTIN PEAY 19, MURRAY STATE 7
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Shortstop Garrett Kueber hit a grand slam and drove in six runs as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team corralled Murray State, 19-7, Sunday at Raymond C. Hand Park to complete a sweep of the three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.
Sunday’s finale started much like Saturday’s contest with Murray State (10-10, 2-4 OVC) grabbing an early 2-0 lead on right fielder Brandon Gutzler’s two-run home run in the first inning. And for a second straight day, the Governors tied the game with single runs in both the first and second innings.
But Sunday’s story took a new path in the third inning when Austin Peay (12-7, 5-1 OVC) sent 11 men to the plate and, with two outs, scored eight runs. Designated hitter Max Remy broke the tie with his two-run single that turned into three runs as a Murray State error allowed another run to score. Three batters later, Kueber stepped to the plate and hammered a grand slam to left field, giving the Govs a 10-2 lead.
The Governors extended their lead to 15-2 with a five-run fourth as third baseman Malcolm Tipler and Kueber supplied back-to-back two-run singles. That five-run frame proved helpful as Murray State responded with a five-run fifth inning, aided by second baseman Grant Wood’s grand slam.
However, Murray State could not extend its fifth inning rally, leaving the Govs a 15-7 lead. Austin Peay would add to its lead in the seventh with backup catcher Alex Sala supplying a bases-clearing double to cap a four-run burst and set the final score.
Govs pitcher Devin O’Donovan (1-0) was credited with the win after tossing 1.1 scoreless innings in relief of starter Josh Rye, who went just 4.2 innings. Reliever Brandon Vial closed the game with three scoreless innings of his own to notch his first save.
Kueber’s six-RBI day came courtesy a 4-for-6 outing at the plate, which three singles and the grand slam. Tipler and Sala each had three RBI in the Govs season-high 19-run outburst.
Murray State starter Jake Jones (1-1) surrendered seven runs on seven hits in 2.2 innings in the loss. The Racers were held to four hits, third baseman Davis Sims supplying a 2-for-4 outing with two doubles.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 8, UT MARTIN 7
MARTIN, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri baseball defeated the UT Martin Skyhawks 8-7 after a two out two-run home run from Justin Dirden in the ninth inning, giving them the series win.
The Redhawks took the lead early after a huge second inning where they scored six runs on four hits.
Wade Stauss had a two-run home run bringing in Justin Dirden who walked. Trevor Ezell and Tristen Gagan both had two-RBI hits with two outs to bring the lead up to 6-0.
The Skyhawks finally got on the board in the fifth inning after a two-RBI double from Jordan Stoner to close the lead to 6-2.
No teams scored again until the Skyhawks erupted for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
With two outs, Collin Edwards singled to right field bringing in one run. The next at bat Blake Davis singled to left bringing in another run, cutting the lead to two.
Joey Burris came into pitch for Daniel Bergtholdt with two runners on base and on the first pitch Ethan Whitley hit a three-run home run from the Skyhawks to take the lead at 7-6. Southeast escaped from the inning the very next at bat.
In the top of the ninth with two outs, Tristen Gagan singled up the middle to bring the winning run to the plate.
With a 2-1 count, Justin Dirden homered to center field, giving the lead back to the Redhawks at 8-7.
Aaron Stretch came in to close for Southeast in the bottom of the ninth and the Skyhawks went three up, three down, giving the Redhawks the victory.
Joey Burris (1-1) was charged with the win for Southeast, Aaron Stretch got his first save of the season as well.
MERCER 5, EASTERN KENTUCKY 4
MACON, Ga. - Chris Botsoe and Alex Holderbach hit back-to-back solo home runs in the first inning, but the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team lost 5-4 at Mercer University in the series finale on Sunday.
The home runs staked the Colonels (7-14) to a 2-0 lead.
The Bears (16-5) scored once in the bottom of the first and the bottom of the second to tie the game and then took the lead in the third inning. Trey Truitt drove in a run with a single through the left side. Later in the inning, RJ Yeager was hit by a pitch with bases loaded to force in another run and make it 4-2.
EKU closed within one, 4-3, when Cornell Nixon scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh. Trailing by two with two outs in the ninth, Eastern loaded the bases and drew within one on an RBI infield single from Jake Lewis.
Holderbach finished 1-for-2 with three walks, a run and an RBI. Botsoe was 1-for-4 with a walk, a run and an RBI. Tyler Romanik had two hits in four at bats.
Truitt was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Mercer. Yeager went 1-for-3 with two driven in.