SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 4, Austin Peay 0
@Tennessee Tech 11, Jacksonville State 7
@Eastern Kentucky 11, SIUE 8
@Southeast Missouri 13, Eastern Illinois 1
BELMONT 4, AUSTIN PEAY 0
NASHVILLE - Belmont Baseball defeated Austin Peay 4-0 in exciting fashion behind an impeccable performances by junior pitcher Casey Queener (Brentwood, Tenn.) and senior catcher Austin Reynolds (Smyrna, Tenn.) Sunday afternoon.
Queener made his eighth start on the bump for the Bruins this season, having a career outing. He pitched his first-career complete game, shutting out the Govs, striking out a career-best 12 batters while only walking one. Queener forced seven three up, three down innings in Sunday's outing.
The Governors were only able to scatter three hits on the afternoon and only put a runner in scoring position one time.
In addition to the Queener's incredible defensive performance, senior Austin Reynolds had a nice outing offensively for the Bruins.
Reynolds was responsible for each of the Bruins four runs on the afternoon. After three and a half scoreless innings, Reynolds opened things up in the bottom of the fourth. After junior Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) and senior Ben Kocher (Zionsville, Tenn.) reached base off a base hit and walk respectively, Reynolds stepped to the plate and sent a ball well over the left field fence to put the Bruins on top 3-0.
Reynolds once again stepped up and gave BU some life in the bottom of the seventh when he rocketed a one-out double to left center field. He put himself 90 feet from home plate, advancing on a wild pitch before freshman Jordan Henshaw (New Market, Ala.) was able to plate the base runner with an infield single to put the Bruins up 4-0.
Reynolds was also effective behind the plate as catcher for the Bruins. The Governors attempted to steal two bases, but Reynolds assisted in catching them both.
The Bruins scattered five hits, including a multi-hit bottom of the seventh and commited no errors on the afternoon.
TENNESSEE TECH 11, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Looking for its fourth Ohio Valley Conference sweep of the year and to extend the nation's longest winning streak to a program best 16 games, the Tennessee Tech baseball team left no doubt Sunday afternoon, defeating Jacksonville State 11-7.
After fighting back for walk-off victories on both Friday and Saturday, the Golden Eagles (25-5, 14-1) wasted little time in putting a dent in the scoreboard for an early lead over the Gamecocks (16-13, 6-6). On the just the second offering of the bottom of the first, center fielder Alex Junior lifted a line drive just over the fence in right center field for a leadoff home run.
Two batters later, junior Kevin Strohschein singled through the left side after working a brilliant eight-pitch at bat. Senior Chase Chambers followed with a bloop single to shallow center field and just after that, junior John Ham earned a five-pitch walk to load the bases.
A day after boasting five RBI and scoring the winning run, senior shortstop David Garza took to the batter's box with a chance to post a crooked number for Tech in the first. The veteran leader delivered again, crushing a 3-1 offering that easily cleared the left field fence for a grand slam and 5-0 Golden Eagle lead.
The Gamecocks showed plenty of fight, grabbing a run back in the top of the first and then tying the game in the fifth after Nic Gaddis turned in a grand slam of his own. While it would have been easy to let shock set in, the Golden Eagles continued to show the fight and grit they boasted all series, returning the favor in the bottom half of the frame.
Jacksonville State starter Colton Pate gathered two quick outs to start Tech's half of the fifth, but Ham turned the page for the Golden Eagles by ripping a double down the third-base line. Garza came up clutch again, recapturing the home lead with an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Junior Nick Osborne, the hero of Saturday's walk-off thriller, showed patience in drawing a five-pitch walk, bringing youngster Zell Walker to the dish. The redshirt freshman announced his presence with authority, hammering the first offering to left center field for a three-run moon shot. Instantly, it was a 9-5 Tech lead.
Chambers added some insurance to the Golden Eagle effort in the eighth, blasting his eighth long ball of the year, a two-run shot off the batter's eye in center field, to make it an 11-5 advantage.
Jax State managed a pair of runs with two outs in the ninth, but junior Ethan Roberts forced a ground ball to himself and flipped it to Chambers to secure the win and continue the team's historic streak.
Roberts was brilliant in relief in the contest, tossing the final four and one third innings to pick up his third victory of the season. The right-hander allowed just four hits, two walks and two earned runs in the contest, with three hits, a walk and both runs coming in the ninth with two outs.
The Sparta native struck out six and forced a double play ball while heling Tech continue the best start to a season in program history. Garza finished the contest 2-for-4 with five RBI, a walk and two runs scored. Chambers completed a 3-for-5 day with two runs and two RBI and Ham turned in two doubles in four at bats.
Tech 16 straight wins represents the most by an OVC team since the 2013 Austin Peay squad accomplished the feat.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 11, SIUE 8
RICHMOND, Ky. - Clinging to a two-run lead in the sixth inning, junior catcher Alex Holderbach hit a grand slam to send the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team to an 11-8 victory over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
With the win, the Colonels (15-17, 8-4 OVC) sweep their second straight Ohio Valley Conference opponent and have won three straight league series. EKU is 8-1 in its last nine OVC games. The last time Eastern swept back-to-back three-game series against conference teams was in 2005.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Holderbach sent the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field to plate four runs and make it 11-5. It was his team-leading seventh home run of the season. He finished 2-for-4 with two runs and five RBIs.
A bases clearing double by Brock Weimer in the top of the third turned a 1-0 deficit for SIUE (7-22, 3-12 OVC) into a 3-1 lead. Aaron Goecks added a sacrifice fly in the inning to push the margin to 4-1.
The Colonels erased a 5-2 deficit in the bottom of the fourth. Daniel Harris IV drove in Tyler Romanik with a single to left center. Daniel McFarland followed with a single to right that scored Chris Botsoe. Harris also scored, after an error on the play, to tie the game.
Eastern took the lead for good on an RBI double by Nick Howie in the bottom of the fifth. Jake Lewis followed with a ground out that scored Holderbach and made it a 7-5 game.
Ryland Kerr had a 3-for-5 day and scored three times. Harris was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one driven in.
Jack Piekos (1-2) picked up the win after pitching four innings in relief. He allowed one run on one hit, walked two and struck out four.
Jordan Ross finished 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI for the Cougars.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 13, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Trevor Ezell went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBI, while Tristen Gagan and Danny Wright also had three hits each to lead Southeast Missouri (14-18, 10-5) to a 13-1 rout of Eastern Illinois (10-19, 2-10) on a snowy spring day at Capaha Field Sunday.
With the win, SEMO clinched its fourth Ohio Valley Conference series victory.
The Redhawks pounded out 16 hits for the day, six of which went for extra bases.
Ahead, 2-0, after three innings, SEMO scored three times in each of the fifth and sixth frames and four times in the seventh to blow the game open.
Ezell led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and scored on an ensuing double by Gagan. Alex Nielsen's two-out single to center pushed across two more runs for the Redhawks.
Justin Dirden's three-run home run stretched SEMO's lead to 8-1 in the sixth.
Ezell came up again in the bottom of the seventh and doubled home two runs. Gagan and Dirden each followed with RBI-hits to widen the lead to 12-1.
A solo home run by Alex Canty capped the scoring in the eighth inning.
Carlos Vega (5-3) earned the win on the mound. Vega struck out seven and walked two in seven scoreless innings. He also allowed three hits. Vega leads the Redhawks in wins this year.
Spenser Dexter (0-1) suffered the loss. Dexter worked 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He struck out four and walked three, as well.
Gagan, Nielsen, Ezell and Dirden all had multiple hits and multiple RBI for SEMO.