WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Western Kentucky 9,
Murray State 5
Southern Illinois 13,
@Belmont 9
Austin Peay 7, @#1 Vanderbilt 6
Jacksonville State 9, @Troy 7
WESTERN KENTUCKY 9, MURRAY STATE 5
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Murray State baseball team traveled to Western Kentucky, Wednesday afternoon to take on the Hilltoppers in midweek action. The Racers could not get much going offensively until it was too late as they were flustered by the WKU pitchers for most of the game, falling 9-5.
Out of the Racers' eight hits in the game, Jake Slunder had four of them, going 4-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Joe Ivey made his first career start on the mound for the Racers, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out two. Justin Thomas was s bright spot in the bullpen for Murray State as he retired five of the six batters he faced in 1.2 scoreless innings.
After a scoreless first inning by both teams, the Hilltoppers broke through with crooked numbers in the second, scoring three runs and the fourth inning with two more.
The Racers got a run back in the fifth when Sean Darmafall doubled and Slunder singled to set up first and third with no outs. Slunder then took off for second like he was going to steal, but stopped, forcing a throw from the catcher, allowing Darmafall to come in and score from third.
After WKU added a couple of more runs, the Racers tacked on a run in the eighth when Slunder came into score on a sacrifice fly by Cole Womack.
The Hilltoppers added a couple of insurance runs in the eighth before a late comeback attempt by the Racers in the ninth, which saw RBIs from Brock Anderson, Darmafall, and Slunder, produced three runs to make the final score.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 13, BELMONT 9
NASHVILLE - Belmont University baseball dropped a 13-9 decision to Southern Illinois University on Wednesday night. The game originally scheduled to be played Feb. 19 was postponed due to rainy weather conditions. Belmont was highlighted by a stellar performance by sophomore Jackson Campbell (Russellville, Ky.) who had multiple home runs and caught three Saluki's stealing on the day.
Southern Illinois made an early statement, opening the game with a big inning. After the first three batters walked, singled and homered, the Saluki's had an early 3-0 lead. After three more hits in the inning, SIU took a 5-0 lead after the top of the first.
After retiring Belmont in order, the Southern Illinois put up a three spot in the second and scored another in the third to jump out to a 9-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Belmont made its first real threat, getting a runner in scoring position after junior Hagan Severance (Brentwood, Tenn.) was hit by a pitch and freshman Grayson Taylor (Cullman, Ala.) singled up the middle. The Saluki's, however, were able to force a ground ball to keep the Bruins scoreless.
Junior Brandon Liskey (Guyton, Ga.) took over the mound for Belmont in the top of the fourth. Liskey kept SIU off the board for the first time of the game in the top of the fourth after he forced a fly ball, had a successful pickoff and struck the final batter out.
Belmont finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning. After two quick outs, junior Chandler Adkins (Knoxville, Tenn.) got aboard after working a walk. Campbell follow that with Belmont's first home run of the season. His two-run long ball put BU on the board, narrowing the SIU lead 9-2.
After a scoreless fifth inning, SIU rounded out its scoring efforts in the top of the sixth. After a couple of hits and Belmont errors, SIU scored four runs for a 13-2 lead. Belmont responded in the sixth inning with a four spot of its own. Junior Devon Gardner (Maryville, Tenn.) stepped to the plate with one out and became the first Belmont base runner of the inning after he was hit by a pitch. Consecutive walks from Adkins and Campbell loaded the bases. Freshman John Behrends (Chattanooga, Tenn.) plated the third run of the night with an RBI single through the left side. Later in the inning, Taylor worked a two-out bases loaded walk, plating Belmont's fourth run. An SIU error on the next play allowed two more Belmont runs and Belmont cut the lead 13-6 after six complete innings.
Belmont kept the Salukis off the board in the seventh and eighth innings to set up a late push. Campbell continued his second home run of the day with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead 13-7.
After a scoreless top of the inning, Belmont made its final offensive push in the bottom of the ninth. Junior Zach Ehrhart (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) worked a leadoff walk that pinch hitter sophomore Logan Jarvis (Franklin, Tenn.) followed up with a base knock to put runners on first and second. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch that made its way to the backstop, Belmont had two runners in scoring position. With one out, Gardner singled through the left side scoring both Ehrhart and Jarvis to narrow the lead 13-9. Belmont was unable to plate any more runs, falling short on Wednesday evening.
AUSTIN PEAY 7, #1 VANDERBILT 6
NASHVILLE - Austin Peay State University's baseball team scored seven unanswered runs and stunned No. 1 ranked Vanderbilt, 7-6 in 10 innings Wednesday night at Hawkins Field.
They are the first OVC team to defeat the No. 1 ranked team since 2009 (Jacksonville State over Georgia).
Designated hitter Matt Joslin came off the bench and delivered the biggest hit of the young season. Facing Vanderbilt reliever Tyler Brown, who had just entered the game with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Joslin took the first two pitches he saw for balls to jump ahead 2-0. Brown then delivered a strike and Joslin responded by fouling off the next pitch to level the count. Brown's 2-2 offering proved the game's pivotal moment with Joslin rifling the ball through the left side and driving in two game-tying runs.
Trailing 5-3 entering the ninth, Austin Peay (3-4) turned a moment of anguish into a rallying point. With a runner on base and one out, first baseman Parker Phillips was called out on strikes and in the ensuing moments the Governors head coach was ejected. However, Austin Peay would battle back with the next two batters each earning walks to load the bases.
Enter designated hitter Matt Joslin who took a pair of balls before a called strike and a foul ball pushed the count to 2-2. Joslin didn't flinch and rifled a single through the left side of the infield and two Governors scampered home to tie the game, 5-5.
Govs reliever Brett Newberg (1-2) returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth and allowed a one-out single before getting a fly out and strikeout to end the frame, forcing Austin Peay's second extra-inning affair of 2019.
In the 10th, Austin Peay batters kept winning battles at the plate. Second baseman Max Remy and third baseman Gino Avros each earned walks and shortstop Garrett Kueber was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. One out later, Phillips would ground sharply to shortstop but Kueber would beat the throw to second, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Center fielder Garrett Spain followed with his third walk of the game to force home a second run and the Govs lead was 7-5.
Vanderbilt (6-2) would get a glimmer of hope in the home half of the tenth when second baseman Austin Martin tripled with one out and scored on right fielder JJ Bleday's fly ball. But Newberg struck out the next batter and catcher David Martinez' throw to Phillips was in time to seal the win.
Newberg, the sixth Governors pitcher of the day, picked up his season's first win after holding Vanderbilt to one run over three innings. He struck out five of the 13 batters he faced, including two key strikeouts in the eighth that stranded runners in scoring position and maintained the Govs two-run deficit.
Joslin finished the day 2-for-3 with two RBI to lead the Govs offense. David Martinez and Malcolm Tipler also had two hits each.
Jackson Gillis (0-1), the seventh of eight Vanderbilt pitchers, was tagged for the loss after allowing two runs in the 10th inning.
Martin went 4-for-5 and scored three runs to lead the Commodores offense. First baseman Stephen Scott went 2-for-4 with three RBI, including a three-run home run in the third inning that put Vanderbilt ahead 5-0. But from there, the Austin Peay bullpen did a stellar job, scattering five hits and one earned run over the final 6.2 innings to give the bats a chance to get back in it.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 9, TROY 7
TROY, Ala. - The Jacksonville State baseball team won its second consecutive contest with a 9-7 decision over in-state nemesis Troy on Wednesday night at Riddle-Pace Field on the Troy campus.
After sweeping the midweek set at UAB on Tuesday and Wednesday's win over the Trojans, the Gamecocks improved to 4-5 overall, while Troy dropped to 4-4 on the season. Jax State will now return to Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium for a lengthy time frame as it will play 15 of the 19 games in the month of March in the first-year facility. JSU will begin the month on Friday, March 1, starting a three-game series with Florida International. FIU will be visiting Jacksonville after JSU traveled to Miami, Florida the past two seasons. Friday's series opener is set for 6 p.m. followed by a pair of 1 p.m. start times on Saturday and Sunday.
The Gamecocks scored in bunches of three in three innings for the win, including a three spot in the eighth to regain the lead. Sophomore Alex Strachan, who reached base four times in the contest, started the frame with a single back up the middle, followed by junior Tre Kirklin beating out an infield hit. Junior Alex Webb turned a pinch hit sacrifice bunt situation in to a run-scoring play as he placed the bunt down third base and beat an errant throw, scoring Strachan. Junior Andrew Naismith and sophomore Isaac Alexander delivered back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead to 9-6.
It was another come-from-behind win for JSU as Troy touched Naismith with three runs in the opening inning. Troy put together the three runs on four hits, highlighted by the first of two home runs by Sadler Goodwin. Goodwin posted a two-run home run to left field in the first and aided Troy's three-run sixth with a solo shot to right center. The Trojans cut the lead to 9-7 with a solo home run by Reed Smith.
Jax State used the long ball as well as they put up six of the nine runs on on just four hits until finishing with nine hits off six Trojan tossers. Junior Taylor Craven cranked his third home run of the season in the first nine games with a two-run blast over the left field fence. Strachan belted his second home run of the season with a two-out solo home run to the same spot.
JSU used four arms out of the bullpen and saw an upward trend with freshman Isaiah Magwood. Magwood went four innings and scattered four hits and collected four strikeouts. Sophomore Colin Casey and Austin Brewster combined to limit Troy to one run over the next three innings and get out of jams. Brewster fanned three in his second outing of the week. Sophomore Christian Edwards tallied his second save in as many nights with a clean ninth inning. It was his second save of the season.