SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 7, Austin Peay 6
@Eastern Kentucky 5, Eastern Illinois 4
MOREHEAD STATE 7, AUSTIN PEAY 6
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior second baseman Braxton Morris' looping RBI single into right field proved to score the game-winning run, and reliever Cory Conway closed the door with three solid innings to lift the Morehead State baseball team to a 7-6 triumph over Austin Peay at Allen Field Sunday.
Morehead State moved to 12-6 in the OVC and 25-16 overall and avoided its first three-game series sweep since 2013.
The Eagles fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but worked to eventually move ahead 6-2 after six frames. However, a pair of two-run round-trippers by APSU knotted the game at six in the seventh.
Morris, who was 4-for-5 at the plate for third time this week, lifted a two-out blooper that dropped into right field to score junior right-fielder Jake Hammon, who had reached on a fielder's choice bunt earlier and was moved around by a single from junior left-fielder Niko Hulsizer.
Hulsizer bombed his seventh home run of the year and 39th of his career to tie the game at 2-2 in the second. Senior first baseman Tyler Niemann got the Eagles on the board with a double in the same frame and added an RBI ground out in the third. Morris also ripped an RBI double down the left-field line in the sixth to make it 6-2.
Cantu pitched into the seventh inning, finally surrendering four runs, and picking up a no-decision. He struck out three but only gave up a first-inning home run before shutting out APSU for five straight frames. Conway (5-2) whiffed five and issued no walks.
Parker Phillips, Imani Willis and Nick Walker all cranked two-run homers out for the visitors.
Hulsizer, junior center-fielder Connor Pauly, senior DH Eli Boggess and junior shortstop Reid Leonard each collected two hits. Leonard increased his reached-base streak to 33 games and his hitting streak to 11 games.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 5, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky completed a three-game sweep of Eastern Illinois with a 5-4 win on Sunday at Earle Combs Stadium.
EKU has won four of its six Ohio Valley Conference series this season. The Colonels (21-20, 12-6 OVC) have swept three conference teams for the first time since 2012.
Eastern Illinois (13-25, 4-14 OVC) got the tying run to third base with one out in the top of the eighth inning, but Aaron Ochsenbein rebounded to get a strike out and a ground ball to end the threat. Ochsenbein then retired the side in order in the ninth, including the first two on strike outs, to secure his seventh save of the season.
"Really proud of the guys today and how they competed on Sunday in a very competitive game," Eastern Kentucky Head Coach Edwin Thompson said. "We knew it would be tough. Their guy that came in is their guy. He's their closer and really good. For us to do what we needed to do early, and find a way to get the victory is special."
The Colonels grabbed the early lead on Alex Holderbach's two-run single in the bottom of the first inning. It was his 52nd and 53rd RBIs of the season. After the Panthers closed to within 3-2, Cornell Nixon drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Daniel Harris IV scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth to push EKU out in front 5-2.
Michael Starcevich came on in relief for EIU in the fourth inning and allowed just two base runners the rest of the game. In four and one-third innings he walked one and allowed one hit.
Eastern Illinois made it a one-run game again on Jimmy Govern's two-run home run over the wall in right center in the top of the sixth inning.
Holderbach finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Will Johnson had a 2-for-3 day with a walk and a run scored for Eastern Kentucky. Govern was 2-for-3 with a run and three RBIs for Eastern Illinois.