THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 9, Murray State 6
@Morehead State 11-10, Eastern Illinois 8-8
Jacksonville State 18, @Eastern Kentucky 3
BELMONT 9, MURRAY STATE 6
NASHVILLE - After a late-inning rally, Belmont University Baseball defeated Ohio Valley Conference foe, 9-6 on Thursday afternoon. The Bruins improve to 12-7 in OVC play and the Racers fall to 10-6.
Murray State wasted no time getting on the board, scoring three runs in the top of the first. After the four-hit inning, the Racers led things 3-0.
From the start of the afternoon, the Bruins made good contact with the ball, but were unable to find the gaps and were held scoreless through two complete.
In the top of the third, sophomore Korey Bell (Brentwood, Tenn.) continued his work on the mound for the Bruins. A hit and a walk put two Racers on, but Bell got out of the jam a strikeout to end the inning.
With a 3-0 deficit, senior Zach Ehrhart (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) looked to get things going for the Bruins. A two-out single gave BU just its third base runner of the day. Ehrhart, however, was caught stealing and Belmont's efforts were halted.
Both squads' leadoff men were aboard in their respective halves of the inning, but the teams traded double plays to keep the score through the same after the fourth.
The Racers added to its lead in the top of the fifth after scoring on a wild pitch and home run to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
Junior Justin Fowlkes (Collierville, Tenn.), who relieved Bell in the bottom of the fourth, kept Murray State scoreless in the top of the sixth to keep BU within striking distance.
Belmont biggest offensive threat so far in the game came in the bottom of the fourth. After a Jackson Campbell (Russellville, Ky.) single and consecutive walks by Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) and Chandler Adkins (Knoxville, Tenn.) Belmont had the bases loaded with two outs. Murray State was able to force a pop up to strand all three of Belmont's runners.
With a 5-0 deficit, Fowlkes notched the first three up, three down inning of the day for Belmont in the top of the seventh.
The Bruins were finally able to crack the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh. Back-to-back singles by freshmen Tommy Crider (Madison, Ala.) and John Behrends (Chattanooga, Tenn.) put BU runners on first and second. Campbell then stepped to the plate and came up huge with a triple to score both, cutting Murray State's lead 5-2. Campbell then scored on a wild pitch before the final out to make the score 5-3 after seven.
The Racers earned back a run in the top of the eighth for a 6-3 lead.
The bottom of the eighth is where Belmont made up its ground. Hadden worked a leadoff walk to get the inning going. Adkins then doubled to put two runners on scoring position. A Devon Gardner single and a wild pitch cut the Murray lead 6-5. Belmont loaded the bases with no outs after senior Hunter Holland (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) walked and freshman Grayson Taylor (Cullman, Ala.) singled. After a foul ball was caught, Behrends was due up. His chopper to the second basemen was the second out, but it was good enough to score the tying run and prevent the double play. After another walk, BU loaded the bases yet again and Ehrhart delivered a base clearing double to give Belmont a 9-6 lead.
With Belmont's first lead of the night, sophomore Kyle Brennan (Franklin, Tenn.) took the mound to attempt to close out the game for the Bruins. He notched the save, striking out the side for his 26th consecutive scoreless inning.
Belmont's 9-6 victory put them a game ahead of Murray State in the OVC race who came into the day tied with BU for second.
MOREHEAD STATE 11-10, EASTERN ILLINOIS 8-8
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior shortstop Reid Leonard totaled seven hits, including the go-ahead RBI single in the opener, and senior left-fielder Jake Hammon belted a two-out, two-run homer to take the lead in game two as the Morehead State baseball team defeated Eastern Illinois 11-8 and 10-8 in a doubleheader at Allen Field Thursday.
Leonard became just the fifth player in OVC history to reach 300 career hits with his prolific day, which also included a solo home run in the second contest.
The Eagles improved to 19-1 at home in 2019 and to 26-14 overall and 11-6 in the OVC. The Panthers slid back to 18-20 overall and 9-11 in the league.
In game one, Morehead State busted open a 4-4 stalemate with seven runs in the eighth inning and then had to fend off a determined Panther offense that plated four in the top of the ninth before the Eagles could finally seal the win.
Included in the eighth-inning outburst was Leonard's single that plated junior third baseman Dom Peroni with the fifth run and a three-run towering home run by senior designated hitter Trevor Snyder. Hammon also had an RBI single, and senior center-fielder Connor Pauly belted a two-run double.
Tied 1-1 in the fifth, Leonard's RBIs single kick-started a three-run rally to put his team on top 4-1. The Panthers eventually tied it 4-4 with three in the seventh, including the first of two homers by leadoff hitter Jimmy Govern.
Despite surrendering five runs in two frames, junior closer Jake Ziegelmeyer was tabbed with the win to improve to 3-1. The Eagles tagged EIU's Josh Cooper for all seven tallies in the eighth as he fell to 0-4. MSU sophomore Cory Conway came on in the ninth to get the final out on Govern's fly out after giving up two singles and a walk.
Leonard had four hits, while Hammon and Snyder had two each, part of the 11-hit effort by the Eagle bats,
The second game came down to the final at-bat for the Eagles with two outs. Sophomore Stephen Hill was plunked by a Blake Malatestinic pitch, setting up Hammon's chance. The lefty crushed the first pitch he saw over the wall in right center-field.
Freshman right-hander Landon Weins, who had entered in the eighth and got the final two outs, then struck out the final two EIU batters at the top of the order to collect the win and improve to 4-1.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first, the Eagles got two runs back in the bottom of the frame when senior catcher Hunter Fain nailed his ninth homer of the year and Pauly followed with a solo shot.
EIU battled back and took a 7-4 lead into the fifth inning. Leonard got a four-run rally going with his third homer of the year, a mammoth shot that went over the left-field foul pole. Moments later, junior Ryan Layne lifted a single that dropped into shallow center-field to score the tying (seventh) and go-ahead (eighth) runs.
Leonard and Pauly had three hits each, as the Eagles had 14 for the night. Fain, Layne and Hammon registered multiple hit games as well.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 18, EASTERN KENTUCKY 3
RICHMOND, Ky. - Jacksonville State matched a program record for home runs in a game with eighth and broke JSU's NCAA Division I mark in an 18-3 rout of Eastern Kentucky on Thursday night at Earle Combs Stadium.
Seven different Gamecocks collected home runs on a blustery day on Turkey Hughes Field, while junior Alex Webb belted a pair of home runs in the contest. Jax State matched a 42-year old record as the last time it had eight home runs in a contest was in the Gulf South Conference Championship game against Nicholls State in 1977. The game was played at University Field, what is now the JSU softball complex. The eight home runs surpasses the Division I mark, which was established twice at Morehead State during the 2010 campaign.
Jax State moved into sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings after Belmont downed Murray State in Nashville on Thursday. JSU improved to 20-16 overall and 11-5 in the OVC. The Colonels fell to 22-16 on the season and 9-7 in league play. The two teams continue the series on Friday afternoon with a 1 p.m. EST/12 CST start time. The game was moved up to avoid weather concerns.
Senior Nic Gaddis started the home run trots with a two-run home run in the first inning. Webb, who finished the night 4-for-5 with four RBI, delivered a solo shot to the batter's eye to start the scoring in JSU's five-run third inning. Webb was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle with a single in his first plate appearance and a double in the sixth after connecting on his second home run of the night in the fifth. He drove in three more runs with his fifth home run of the season.
Junior Chase Robinson, who also had four RBI in the opening game of the series, belted a three-run home run in the JSU fourth inning. Robinson's first RBI was a ground ball out that scored a run in the third. Freshman Carson Crowe added a second home run in the third inning with a two-run shot over the right field wall. Redshirt freshman Nash Adams posted a solo home run in the sixth inning, followed by a lead off home run by sophomore Isaac Alexander to start the seventh. His solo round tripper matched JSU's NCAA Division I record.
Sophomore Alex Strachan capped off the high-octane offensive night with a pinch-hit towering solo home run off the left field foul pole.
When the numbers were totaled up, JSU posted a season-high 18 runs on 15 hits, which matches a season-best. The Gamecocks had 15 hits in back-to-back games two weekends ago at Southeast Missouri.
With the run support, redshirt junior Garrett Farmer cruised along for six innings, keeping EKU off the scoreboard. Farmer was effective with six strikeouts and scattering six hits. The two runs he allowed came off a home run by Nick Howie. Farmer moved to 4-0 on the season. The home run was the first allowed by the JSU pitching staff in OVC-only games since March 31 against Tennessee Tech and the first runs scored by an opponent in the opening games of a series in the last 15.1 innings pitched. Jax State blanked Belmont, 9-0, last Friday night.
Freshman Michael Gilliland tossed the final three frames and was touched for a run on three hits. He added three strikeouts and pitched three effective innings for the save.