WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Cincinnati 5,
Eastern Kentucky 2
@Clemson 7,
Tennessee Tech 4
Alabama 6,
@Jacksonville State 3
@UT Martin 8, Evansville 4
CINCINNATI 5, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
CINCINNATI - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team saw the University of Cincinnati score five runs in the fifth inning to pull out a 5-2 victory on Wednesday at Marge Schott Stadium.
The Colonels (23-18) grabbed the early lead when Will Johnson led off the game with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first.
The Bearcats (19-21) got all the runs they would need in the bottom of the fifth. Mitch Holding and Jeremy Johnson began the inning with back-to-back home runs. Wyatt Stapp brought home what would prove to be the winning run with an RBI single to right field. A balk and a bases loaded hit-by-a-pitch allowed the home team to score two more times in the inning.
Johnson had an RBI single in the sixth to get EKU within three, but the Colonels never got any closer.
Five different Eastern Kentucky players had one hit each. Johnson finished 1-for-4 with a walk, a run and an RBI. Stapp was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for Cincinnati.
CLEMSON 7, TENNESSEE TECH 4
CLEMSON, S.C. - One streak was ended and another continued at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Wednesday afternoon, as the Tennessee Tech baseball team fell to Clemson on the road, 7-4.
The Tigers (26-16) snapped an eight-game losing skid with the win while the Golden Eagles (17-22) advanced their streak of consecutive games with a home run to 15 straight.
Clemson took an early 2-0 lead in the contest, but Tech answered in the second with a trio of base hits. Freshman John Dyer led things off with a single to left center field. Nathan McMeans singled through the left side two batters later and junior Gavin Johns followed with an RBI base knock up the middle.
The Tigers scored two more in the third before the purple and gold received their long ball for the game. Sophomore Jason Hinchman provided the drive, blasting his Ohio Valley Conference-leading 19th round tripper to left center field.
Logan Davidson of the Tigers delivered his own two-run dinger to right center field in the bottom half, making it a 6-2 contest. Clemson snagged one more insurance run in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-2.
In the eighth, the Golden Eagles looked to mount a rally, with Hinchman drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third on a double down the third base line by Dyer. Junior Anthony Carrera followed a pitching change with his own two-bagger, rifling a shot down the right field line to drive in a pair and clip the deficit to 7-4.
Freshman Thomas Saliba tossed two scoreless frames in the contest with a pair of strikeouts. Sophomore Tyler Sylvester completed an inning and a third. After loading the bases with no outs in the eighth, he rallied to strike out the side and keep Clemson off the scoreboard.
ALABAMA 6, JACKSONVILLE STATE 3
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - A three-run ninth inning by Alabama was the difference in Jacksonville State's 6-3 setback to the Crimson Tide on Wednesday night in from of a capacity crowd at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.
In two nights at the first-year facility, nearly 4,000 (3,915) witnessed the Gamecocks face nationally ranked Auburn on Tuesday and Alabama on Wednesday. Wednesday drew 2,033 in attendance, which is the first 2,000-plus attended game since UA's last visit to Jax State in 2014. JSU dropped to 21-19 overall.
Tickets for the series are available online at JSUGamecockSports.com. All fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free. Sunday will be kids day on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. All kids 12 years old and younger will be able to run the bases following the series finale with the MSU.
UA broke a 3-3 deadlock with a pair of hits and aided by two defensive miscues and a leadoff walk by JSU in the inning. UA's Colby Robinson started the inning with a walk and later gave the Crimson Tide the lead after scoring on a wild pitch. Morgan McCullough added an RBI single, followed by a run scored on an errant throw by JSU.
JSU took an early lead with an RBI by redshirt freshman Nash Adams in the third inning. The Gamecocks manufactured the run after sophomore Alex Strachan opened the inning with a double. UA responded with a run in its half of the fourth before the Gamecocks pushed a pair of two-out runs across the plate. Freshman Carson Crowe, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama registered an RBI single. An error by the Crimson Tide infield kept the inning alive and another run for the Gamecocks. Junior Chase Robinson scored on the lay after reaching via a hit by pitch.
After JSU had four hits in the first four frames, Alabama's Kyle Cameron tossed four complete innings without issuing a Gamecock hit. Jax State's Isaac Alexander collected JSU's fifth hit of the night in the ninth. Cameron retired all nine Gamecocks that he faced en route to picking up the win. Sophomore Christian Edwards, who was one of seven pitchers who saw action on Wednesday suffered the loss.
Senior Nic Gaddis led JSU with a pair of hits in the loss. Gaddis now 17 multi-hit games this season.
UT MARTIN 8, EVANSVILLE 4
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team notched an 8-4 victory over regional rival Evansville this evening behind the stellar performance of Ethan Whitley.
UT Martin (16-24) was led at the plate by Whitley as they Mason, Tenn. native tallied a two-hit performance that included a three-run blast and a solo shot as he paced the club in RBIs with four. Jordan Stoner and Hayden Cooper racked up a pair of knocks and an RBI each in the outing while the duo of Casey Harford and Blake Davis tallied a hit and an RBI apiece. Rounding out the Skyhawks in the hit column was Blake Daniels with a couple of knocks and Noah Thigpen with one in the game. Stoner worked his way on base a total of three times as he earned a walk while Davis also drew a free bag.
Seth Petry (3-1) was superb tonight as he tied his career high in innings pitched with five complete frames on the mound. He allowed just two hits, one earned run and a walk while he fanned four Purple Aces in his time toeing the rubber. Marcus Eusebio, David Hussey and Zach Denney all filed in after Petry was done and combined for 2.2 innings and scattered a trio of earned runs between them while they recorded a total of four strikeouts along the way. Nick Wohlbold picked up his eighth save of the season which is tied for the most in a season (Patrick Bernard, 2015) and ranks tied for second-most in a career (Dan Tobik, 2010-13, Chadwick Cameron 2006-07 and Frank Perez 1986-87).
Petry came out dealing as he required just six pitches to breeze through the opening frame. He forced a foulout to first on the first pitch to the first batter followed by a swinging strikeout and capped off the inning with a first-pitch flyout to center.
UT Martin wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Stoner led off the contest with a six-pitch free base. Daniels then roped a single to center on the first pitch he saw. A Harford groundout allowed both runners into scoring position just before a Davis groundball out plated Stoner to give the Skyhawks an early 1-0 advantage.
Petry worked around a leadoff hit by pitch followed by a single to induce a double play ball to third base for a force out. He then found another friendly groundball to short to end the inning unscathed.
The Skyhawks put up another run in the second as Cooper opened the inning with a single to center field before Thigpen poked a knock through the left side of the infield to put a pair of runners on. Stoner then ripped his own single through the left side that was hit well enough to bring in Cooper and pus the UT Martin lead out to 2-0.
Evansville put up a run in the third inning to inch back by a score of 2-1 but not before Petry recorded a pair of strikeouts in the frame. In the fourth, Petry retired the side in order via a pair of flyouts with a caught-looking strikeout sandwiched in between.
In the fourth, Whitley found the first of his home runs as he saw a ball he liked with an 0-2 count. He sent the moonshot over the left field fence to put UT Martin up by a score of 3-1.
Petry’s last inning of work (the fifth) was another 1-2-3 affair as he found a pair of friendly flyball outs and a groundout to third, respectively, to finish his day.
The Skyhawks put up four runs in the fifth inning as Harford got things going by being plunked and then moved up to second on a passed ball. Davis then won a 10-pitch battle to earn a free base and put a couple of runners on the base paths. A Cooper single up the middle allowed Harford to come home. An Evansville wild pitch moved both Davis and Cooper into scoring position but they would not need the help as Whitley stepped back into the batter’s box and crushed a three-run blast off the scoreboard to give his club a 7-1 advantage.
Over the next three innings, the Purple Aces would tally one run per frame to take a score of 7-4 into the bottom of the eighth.
In the eighth inning of action, UT Martin put up one more run as Stoner tallied a two-out double to left center to get the frame going. A Daniels infield knock to second base put runners at the corners before Harford roped a first-pitch single to left field that plated Stoner and gave the Skyhawks an 8-4 lead.
Wohlbold had entered the game in the top of the eighth to record the last out of the frame. He came back out in the ninth to secure his single-season tying eighth save. He worked around a leadoff two-bagger to center to force a flyout and groundout. He conceded one more base runner via a walk but induced a pop up to first base to close the door.