TUESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 12, @Northern Kentucky 9
Morehead State 4, @Tennessee 2
@Troy 8,
Jacksonville State 2
@Murray State 13, Alabama A&M 5
@Saint Louis 5,
Southeast Missouri 2
@Austin Peay 6, Western Kentucky 0
EASTERN KENTUCKY 12, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 9
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Tyler Romanik hit a home run and drove in four runs to help the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team beat Northern Kentucky University, 12-9, on Tuesday. It is the Colonels’ ninth win in their last 10 games.
Eastern (25-21) used a six-run top of the third inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 7-2 lead. The Colonels never trailed again. All six runs were scored with two outs in the inning.
Romanik got it started with a 2-run home run over the wall in left center to put the visitors in front 3-2. After back-to-back singles by Nick Howie and Chris Botsoe to keep the inning going, Daniel McFarland brought home a run with a single through the right side. Two batters later, with runners at second and third, Cornell Nixon singled to center field to plate two more runs and cap the scoring in the third.
Four more runs in the top of the fourth inning allowed Eastern Kentucky to push its lead to 11-3. Romanik and McFarland each drove in another run in the inning.
Romanik finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored to go along with his three RBIs. Ryland Kerr was 4-for-6 and scored three times. The bottom three hitters in the order – Daniel McFarland, Daniel Harris IV and Nixon – combined to drive in six runs.
Reigning national player of the week Alex Holderbach had three hits in five at bats and scored a run.
Four runs by the Norse in the bottom of the seventh allowed the home team to close the gap to two, 11-9, but NKU (12-30) never got any closer.
After Northern Kentucky closed the gap to two, Andrew McWhorter came on in relief with one out and the tying run at the plate. He got a double play to end the inning and did not allow a base runner the rest of the game. McWhorter struck out two of the three batters that came to the plate in the ninth and earned his first save of the season.
MOREHEAD STATE 4, TENNESSEE 2
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - It got a little dicey in the ninth inning, but the Morehead State baseball team got it accomplished as the Eagles held on to defeat the Southeastern Conference's Tennessee Volunteers 4-2 Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
MSU improved to 28-18 in 2018 with its first victory at UT since 2015 and just its fourth-ever win against the program in orange.
The Eagles wasted little time in jumping on top for good. Junior shortstop Reid Leonard extended his reached-base streak to 38 games with a leadoff double and later scored on senior second baseman's Braxton Morris' single. Senior Eli Boggess plated junior left-fielder Niko Hulsizer, who had singled in the frame, with a sac fly to make it 2-0.
Boggess and Morris struck again in the third and fifth innings. Boggess cranked an RBI single to score Morris in the third, while Morris had a run-scoring ground out to score Leonard in the fifth.
MSU righty starter Garret Rogers posted his longest career outing, striking out six over 5.0 innings before giving way to lefties David Looney and Cory Conway and righty JC Hatcher. Rogers (1-1) picked up his first career Division I win.
Hatcher came in during the seventh inning with the bases loaded and coaxed a double play to only allow one run to score. Meanwhile, Conway entered in a tight spot with the bases loaded in the ninth stanza following three straight singles by the Vols to open the inning. Conway also induced a double play as a run scored and walked two, but he struck out the final batter for his third career save.
Leonard, Hulsizer and Morris, the Eagles' 1-2-3 batters, combined for six hits and scored all four runs, while Boggess added two safeties and freshman DH Bryce Hensor also had a hit.
The Eagles touched up UT starter Sean Hunley for the two early runs and made it hold up as they handed Hunley (6-1) his first loss.
TROY 8, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
TROY, Ala. - Senior Clayton Daniel collected two hits and became the second player all-time at Jacksonville State to accumulate 300 career hits and the fourth player all-time in Ohio Valley Conference history, but it wasn't enough in an 8-2 loss at Troy on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Trojans claimed both games of the home-and-home two=game season series against the Gamecocks. Jax State fell to Troy, 16-13, in early April at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. The loss drops JSU to 23-18 overall. Troy improved to 31-14 on the season. It's the first time that Troy has won both games in a season against Jax State since the 2013 campaign.
Daniel was the lone Gamecock to have multiple hits as they were limited to seven hits in the setback. The Guntersville, Alabama infielder ranks fourth all-time in the league and ranks behind former Jax State standout Bert Smith (323), Richie Rodriguez (303) and Kenton Parmley (302). Daniel had a single in the second and the 300th hit came in the ninth.
Troy plated four of the five runs in the first two innings in its first plate appearance. The Trojans touched JSU starter Sean Rape for four hits with the big hit coming with a two-out, two RBI triple by Sadler Goodwin. Troy opened the second frame with a solo home run by Manning Early. Those two would set the tone as Troy pitching allowed JSU two runs in the top of third.
The Gamecocks loaded the bases three times in the first three innings, but could not come up with a key hit for a big run-producing inning. Freshman Alex Strachan and junior Matthew Hammers lifted sacrifice fly balls for the two RBI.
Troy expanded the lead with a pair of two-out RBI in the fourth and the seventh and manufactured another run in the eighth. The runs in the fourth in seventh came after a two-out double by Joey Denison and Goodwin respectively. A two-out walk scored the eighth and final run in the Trojans' half of the eighth.
MURRAY STATE 13, ALABAMA A&M 5
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State pounded out a season-best 23 hits Tuesday night at Reagan Field as the Racers defeated Alabama A&M in non-conference action, 13-5. The win closes a five-game home stand for the Racers over the past week.
Grant Wood led seven Racers with multiple hits in the win as he tallied a career-high five hits at the plate to go along with four runs scored and three RBIs. Bryan Chilton also had a career-high on the night, going 4-for-5 with a double and his first career home run. Davis Sims went 3-for-6 at the dish with two runs and extended his on-base streak to 40 in a row while Mike Farnell was 3-of-5 with a pair of ribbies. Ryan Perkins, Jaron Robinson and Ramsey Scott all had two hits each in the victory.
AAMU (10-36) struck first in the contest as it scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. MSU (20-24) would soon respond however with RBI hits from Farnell and Scott in the bottom half of the frame. In the second, MSU scored three runs to go up 5-2 as Wood's second double of the night scored two and he would later come around to score in the inning.
After the Bulldogs tied the score at 5-5 with a three-run homer in the third, MSU took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning on Jaron Robinson's fourth home run of the season, this one to left center field. The Racers would make it 8-5 with Chilton's homer and another Wood RBI hit in the fifth.
In the seventh, MSU got another pair of runs when Scott grounded into a double play that scored Wood and then on a Perkins double to right brought home Sims and it was 10-5 Racers. MSU tacked on three more runs in the eighth on an unearned run by Tyler Duke and then back-to-back RBIs from Farnell and Caleb Hicks.
Braydon Cook got the win in relief for the Racers. Cook came on in the third for starter Blake Clynes. Connor Holden was great in three scoreless innings out of the bullpen as he struck-out two and allowed just one hit. Peyton Hayes had two strikeouts as well in two innings of work and Farnell closed things out in the ninth for the Racers.
SAINT LOUIS 5, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
ST. LOUIS - Southeast Missouri (21-24) was no-hit for 6.2 innings in a 5-2 loss to Saint Louis (29-15) Tuesday night at the Billikens Sports Complex.
A total of 20 SEMO hitters were retired until Trevor Ezell got the Redhawks first hit on a single to right field with two outs in the top of the seventh innings. Ezell later scored with the help of a Tristen Gagan walk and infield single by Justin Dirden.
The Redhawks added one more run in the top of the eighth inning on another infield single, this time by Devon Wilson, to narrow the Billikens lead to 5-2.
SLU took a 5-0 lead, scoring in three of the first four innings of the game. The Billikens scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to key the surge.
Connor Lehmann (2-1) picked up the win. Lehmann did not allow a hit, struck out three and walked one in six scoreless innings.
Ryan Lefner earned his seventh save of the season.
Ashton Holyfield (1-2) suffered the loss. Holyfield struck out five and walked one in three innings. He also allowed four runs on six hits.
Offensively, SEMO finished with just three hits, including one each from Ezell, Dirden and Wilson.
SLU had 10 hits with four different players getting two each.
AUSTIN PEAY 6, WESTERN KENTUCKY 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Starting pitcher Josh Rye threw six scoreless innings and four relievers followed him on the mound as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team shutout Western Kentucky, 6-0, in nonconference action Tuesday at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Rye (1-3) powered his way through the first five innings. After facing just 10 batters in the first three innings, he worked around doubles in the fourth and fifth to keep the shutout bid going. Rye faced his toughest test in the sixth when the first three batters reached safely to load the bases. However, he dug in and struck out the next three batters to deny the Hilltoppers.
Relievers Ross Walker, Harley Gollert, Devin O’Donovan and Brett Newberg followed Rye on the mound. That quartet tossed the final three scoreless frames, striking out three, to secure Austin Peay’s second shutout of the 2018 season.
Austin Peay (26-19) provided early run support for its pitching staff. Designated hitter John McDonald hit his second home run of 2018 in the second inning to put the game’s first run on the board. The Governors would tack on single runs in both the third and fourth innings after leadoff doubles in each frame to build a 3-0 lead.
That lead would be doubled in the fifth as the Governors struck for three runs. McDonald tacked on a run with a single that was the Govs fourth hit of the game. Shortstop Bobby Head added a sacrifice fly and second baseman Garrett Giovannelli chipped in a run-scoring single.
After failing to score with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, Western Kentucky (20-24) would threaten one final time in the ninth. The Hilltoppers loaded the bases in the frame, but Newberg would strike out the next two batters to close the game. Western Kentucky finished the night 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in bases loaded situations.
McDonald went 2-for-4 with two RBI to lead the Govs offense while Giovannelli added two RBI in a 1-for-4 outing. Center fielder Nick Walker added a 2-for-3 performance as the Govs finished with 10 hits.
Center fielder Jacob Rhinesmith and left fielder Colie Currie each went 2-for-4 to account for the bulk of WKU’s six-hit outing. Starter Paul Kirkpatrick (4-5) suffered the loss after allowing one run in two innings of work.