SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 3, Eastern Illinois 1
@Tennessee Tech 8, Jacksonville State 7
Austin Peay 5, @Belmont 2
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tristen Gagan went 2-for-4 with a run scored, double, home run and three RBI to lead Southeast Missouri (13-18, 9-5) to a 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois (10-18, 2-9) Saturday at Capaha Field.
Gagan hit a solo home run to put SEMO ahead in the bottom of the second inning and later delivered a big two-RBI double in the fifth.
Peyton Faulkner was hit by a pitch and Trevor Ezell singled in front of Gagan in the lineup during the bottom of the fourth inning. Gagan followed with his 11thdouble of the season to widen SEMO's lead to 3-0.
EIU designated hitter Matt Albert answered with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning for the Panthers only run of the game.
Gagan's big day certainly didn't overshadow a strong pitching effort by starter Logan Spalt and reliever Daniel Bergtholdt.
Spalt worked 6.2 innings, his longest outing of the season. He struck out four and allowed one run on four hits en route to nailing down his second win.
Bergtholdt pitched the rest of the way tossing 2.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout, no walks and three hits allowed. He picked up his second save of the year.
Alex Stevenson (0-1) took the loss. Stevenson posted 11 strikeouts to only one walk in seven innings. He also gave up three runs on five hits.
Offensively, the Redhawks finished with five hits. Ezell, Wade Stauss and Connor Basler had one hit apiece behind Gagan.
The Panthers collected eight hits, including two each from Jimmy Huber, Albert and Frankie Perrone.
TENNESSEE TECH 8, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Déjà vu. Just 24 hours after turning in its wackiest win of the year, the Tennessee Tech baseball team outdid itself Saturday afternoon, claiming its second straight walk-off victory over Jacksonville State.
The Golden Eagles (24-5, 13-1) plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth to earn an 8-7 win over the Gamecocks (16-12, 6-5), extending the nation's longest winning streak to a program-record 15 straight.
Trailing 7-5 with just three outs left in the game, the Tech squad wasted no time in beginning its incredible comeback. Much like the day before, junior Kevin Strohschein kicked off the frame with single, lacing the first pitch he saw through the right side of the diamond.
Also just like the day before, senior Chase Chambers followed it up with an impressive battle at the plate that turned into a double. After falling behind in the count 0-2, he saw four more pitches before blasting a shot to right center field and past a leaping attempt by JSU centerfielder Taylor Hawthorne.
Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the ball got caught up under the windscreen of the fence, making the hit a ground-rule double and preventing a run from scoring. On the plus side, Tech boasted two runners on with no outs.
Junior John Ham took his turn at the dish, eventually grounding out to the shortstop to drive in Strohschein and cut the deficit to just a single run. Senior David Garza drew a walk to put two on with one out, making the situation even dicier for both sides. A well struck ball could win the game, a ground ball could end it with a double play.
To make things even more compelling, the next Tech batter walking to the plate, junior Nick Osborne, grounded into one of two double plays turned by the Jacksonville State defense in the game. The thought never crossed his head.
After fouling off the first pitch, Osborne delivered a mammoth swing that, had the wind not been blowing in easily could have resulted in a home run. No matter, as the right fielder's power proved plenty potent with a double off the wall in right center field.
Chambers scored on the play with ease, tying things at 7-7. Running from the instant contact was made, Garza raced around the bases to just beat the throw from the outfield, score the winning run and send Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex into a frenzy.
The win represented the first time Tech had posted back-to-back, walk-off victories since the 2013 season. Tech earned a 10-9 win in 10 innings over Murray State on Apr. 27 and followed it up with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning of the series finale against the Racers on Apr. 28.
The Golden Eagles had to play from behind essentially all game, not taking its first lead until the game-winner. Jacksonville State took a 2-0 lead in the first and increased it to 3-0 in the second.
Garza provided Tech a glimpse of what was to come in the fourth, tying the ball game at 3-3 with a three-run blast just inside the foul pole down the left field line. The Gamecocks came back for three more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to make it a 7-3 deficit staring in the face of the Golden Eagles.
Tech loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, setting up Garza for some more heroics. The veteran shortstop delivered, smacking a bloop single into just the right spot in shallow center field that drove in two to make it a 7-5 contest.
On the day, Garza led the Golden Eagles with the bat, finishing 3-for-3 with five RBI, two walks and two runs scored, including the game-winner. Osborne gathered just a single hit, but it was by far the most important, his game-clinching double.
Strohschein tallied three hits in four at bats and scored twice while Chambers scored two times as well as part of a 1-for-3 day.
Redshirt freshman Grant Phillips picked up his first collegiate win after tossing three and a third brilliant innings for the Golden Eagles in relief. Phillips gave up just one run in the ball game and held Jax State two only two base runners. The Tech pitching staff gave up seven unearned runs in the ball game, making it 14 unearned of the 15 runs scored by the Gamecocks in the series.
AUSTIN PEAY 5, BELMONT 2
NASHVILLE - Second baseman Garrett Giovannelli had a pair of run-scoring doubles and starting pitcher Jacques Pucheu went seven innings as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team downed Belmont, 5-2, Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference action at E.S. Rose Park.
Austin Peay (18-13, 9-5 OVC) got on the board first, striking for three runs in the third inning. Giovannelli supplied the first run with a double inside the third-base bag to drive in center field Imani Willis. Shortstop Garaett Kueber and right fielder Nick Walker also drove in runs, Walker doing so with a triple to wrap up the scoring.
Belmont (12-18, 7-7 OVC) threatened in the fourth after back-to-back batters reached base against Pucheu. Catcher Austin Reynolds drove in a run with a single to left, cutting the deficit to 3-1. The Bruins would get two runners in scoring position after a double steal, but Pucheu struck out a batter to end the inning.
Pucheu (4-1) would retire the next seven to hold the lead and the Govs would add two more runs to support their starter in the seventh. Giovannelli drove in a run in that seventh with a double and then scored on Nick Walker’s single, giving the Govs a 5-1 lead.
Pucheu would surrender another run in the seventh after Belmont opened the inning with back-to-back base hits. However, he would secure his season’s fourth win with a seven-inning outing that saw him strike out six. Brett Newberg entered the game in the eighth and allowed just two hits to record his season’s third save.
Giovannelli went 2-for-5 with two RBI to pace the Govs offense, extending his reached base safely streak to 37 games. Walker went 2-for-4 and also supplied two RBI.
Belmont starter Connor Etheridge (2-3) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in 6.2 innings, despite striking out nine batters. Reynolds led the Bruins offense with a 3-for-4 outing that included his RBI single in the fourth.