WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 11, Illinois College 1
Missouri State 15,
@Murray State 10
@Eastern Kentucky 5, Xavier 3
@Bradley 9,
SIUE 6
@Evansville 6,
UT Martin 3
EASTERN ILLINOIS 11, ILLINOIS COLLEGE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois baseball team returned home to face Illinois College in a midweek contest Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers were able to run-rule Illinois College 11-1.
Jesse Wainscott got the call for the Panthers to start their midweek battle against Illinois College. Wainscott earned the win on the mound for EIU improving to 2-0 on the season. Wainscott tossed 5.0 innings with three strikeouts and one run.
Carson Haws earned his first save of the season tossing 3.0 innings with six strikeouts.
The Panthers took the lead early in the bottom of the third inning scoring four runs. Hunter Morris kicked off his impressive day at the plate with a two run single to score Wyell Woods and Jimmy Govern. Christian Pena drove in the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly right field. Keith Kerrigan kept the scoring alive in the bottom of the third with a one-run single to left field.
Illinois College was able to score their only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning on a Dillon Hallemann single up the middle.
The Panthers added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Grant Emme sacrifice fly and a Matt Waznis two-run single through the right side.
Morris drove a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to give him five RBIs on the afternoon. Tyler Tesmond came in to pinch hit and drove an RBI double to left field. Woods would force the run-rule to give the Panthers the win in the bottom of the eighth with a bases-loaded one run single down the left field line.
MISSOURI STATE 15, MURRAY STATE 10
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State baseball team were involved in a slugfest with Missouri State, Wednesday afternoon at Reagan Field, but it was the Bears that came out on top 15-10.
For the second straight game, the Racers (11-15) scored four runs in the first inning but couldn't hold on as Missouri State (9-19) used four home runs to mount a comeback and win their second game in as many days over an OVC team.
Unlike yesterday where the Racers struggled to score after the first inning, eventually falling in 13 innings to MTSU, Murray State was able to hang with the Bears for most of the game and was led on offense by Jordan Holly, who went 3-4 with a home run, four RBI, and two runs scored. Brock Anderson contributed with two hits and two RBI and Jake Slunder added two hits of his own to push his average back over .300.
However, the pitching was not there for the Racers today as seven pitchers combined to allow 15 hits and 12 walks, the most they have allowed in a game this season.
Luke Brown had a good first inning, retiring the side in order while striking out a pair. In the bottom of the inning, Tyler Duke was hit by a pitch on the first pitch he saw and after Slunder singled and stole second, Anderson drove them both in to give the Racers an early lead. After Anderson stole second as well, Ryan Perkins drove him in with a single to center and eventually came around to score the Racers' fourth run of the inning on an error.
The Bears hit a two-run home run in the second and a solo home run in the fourth to cut their deficit to one, but Holly put the Racers back up two in the bottom of the fourth with his second home run of the season.
Missouri State took the lead in the fifth on a three-run home run and added two more runs in the inning to take a three-run lead, but the Racers responded with four runs of their own to retake the lead after five innings. Perkins and Wes Schad walked to lead off the inning to put the rally in motion. Sean Darmafall drove in the first run of the inning with a single before Holly tripled to left field to tie the game at eight. Murray State took the lead on the next pitch as Duke laced a single to center to score Holly.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Bears hit their fourth home run of the game in the sixth, a three-run shot, to take a lead they would not give up. The Racers got back within one in the seventh on an RBI single by Holly, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way. Missouri State added a run in the eighth and three in the ninth, which proved to be more than enough as their closer retired all six batters he faced in the final two innings.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 5, XAVIER 3
RICHMOND, Ky. - Ryland Kerr and A.J. Lewis fueled Eastern Kentucky University’s 5-3 win over Xavier University in a midweek baseball game at Earle Combs Stadium on Wednesday.
The duo of Kerr and Lewis combined to go 3-for-7, scored two of EKU’s five runs and drove in four of the five.
In the bottom of the first inning, Kerr tied the game, 1-1, with a double to left center. Two batters later, Lewis hit a 2-run home run to give the Colonels (17-13) a lead they would never relinquish.
Kerr’s fourth inning RBI single through the left side put Eastern in front 5-2.
Xavier’s three runs came on three solo home runs in the first, second and fifth innings by Conor Grammes, Natale Monastra and Matt Warkentin.
Warkentin finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Musketeers (9-19).
Freshman Jacob Ferris (3-2) started for Eastern. He allowed three runs on five hits in five innings. The Richmond native walked three and struck out two batters. Aaron Ochsenbein did not allow a hit and struck out five in two innings of relief, picking up his fifth save of the season.
BRADLEY 9, SIUE 6
PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley scored a run in the seventh to break a 6-6 tie and then added two more in the eighth for a 9-6 win over SIUE Wednesday at Dozer Park.
The Cougars fell to 9-17 overall. Bradley improved to 14-10.
Bradley designated hitter Eli Rawlinson took a 2-2 pitch from Adam Drewry over the left field wall to break the 6-6 tie in the seventh inning.
The Cougars opened the scoring with a five-run fourth inning, but ultimately couldn't hold the lead.
SIUE batted around in the fifth. Jack Rigoni reached on an error to start the inning and Dustin Woodcock sent him to third with a one-out double. Brock Weimer brought Rigoni home with a sacrifice fly to open the scoring. Raul Elguezabal singled ahead of Peyton Cordova-Smith who singled to drive home a run. Justin Perkins then doubled to score two. Following a walk to Aaron Goecks, Jordan Ross picked up an RBI with a hit through the left side to chase Bradley starter Jed Moscot.
The Cougars finished with seven hits from seven different players. Perkins was 1-3 with two RBIs. Ross finished 1-3 with a walk. Woodcock was 1-3 and extended his season-long hitting streak to 11 games.
Bradley answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and began chipping away at SIUE's lead. The Braves scored with the help of a balk and an error in the inning. Dan Bolt and Connor O'Brien each singled and Eli Rawlinson added a sacrifice fly as Bradley tied the game with three runs in the fifth. Bradley took the lead with a run on a pair of hits in the sixth. A Brendan Dougherty double drove home the run.
O'Brien led Bradley at the plate. He was 3-4 with an RBI and a run. Rawlinson was 2-3.
The Cougars answered in the bottom half of the inning when Eric Giltz grounded out to drive in Goecks to tie the score. Goecks opened the inning with a bunt single and moved to second on a walk to Ross. Rigoni laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners.
Drewry (1-3) allowed two runs in two innings in the loss for SIUE. Ryan Byrd started for the Cougars and worked four innings, allowing two runs, only one of which was earned. He struck out three and walked only one.
Brian Schrimmer improved to 2-0 with the win in relief for Bradley. He worked 2/3 of an inning. Allan Beer pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his sixth save. Seven Bradley pitchers combined to strike out 13 SIUE hitters.
EVANSVILLE 6, UT MARTIN 3
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team battled but fell to Evansville by a 6-3 margin this evening.
UT Martin (11-17) was led at the plate by Ethan Whitley as he notched a two-RBI night on a pair of hits including a long ball. Casey Harford plated a run as he rapped out three hits in the contest. Sean Dixson, Jordan Stoner, Creighton Eldridge and Reid Pope all tallied one base knock apiece on the evening. Eldridge swiped his squad-best seventh base of the season while Billy Edwards stole his first bag of the year. Eldridge also worked to earn a couple of free bases as Stoner and Edwards also notched one walk each.
Freshman righty Seth Petry (1-1) drew the starting nod and tossed 3.1 innings but was tagged with the loss as he conceded a pair of earned runs. He only allowed two hits and a couple of walks while he fanned a pair of Purple Aces in his time on the bump. David Hussey came on for 0.2 inning but was touched up for three earned runs in that span. He did however both of his outs via the punchout. Marcus Eusebio logged two complete innings of baseball as he allowed just one earned run on a base knock but sat down an Evansville batter on strikes. Zach Denney finished out the contest with a pair of scoreless frames on the hill. He gave up just two hits and issued only one free pass while recording a trio of strikeouts in his time toeing the rubber.
The Skyhawks cracked into the scoring column first as Dixson led the game off with a single to right field just before a Harford double down the left field line would bring him home and give UT Martin an early 1-0 lead.
Petry worked around a leadoff walk in the home half of the first inning as he forced a pair of fielder’s choice groundballs with a flyout sandwiched in between. He made quick work of the Purple Aces in the second when he found a couple of friendly groundball outs followed by a flyout, respectively, to retire the side in order. Petry fanned the first batter he faced in the third on three straight pitches but allowed the next batter to reach via hit by pitch. He induced a flyball out but issued a free base before recollecting himself to force another groundball out to avoid trouble.
Evansville put up five runs in a pivotal fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead.
Eusebio came on in the fifth and found himself faced with two outs in the frame before conceding an Evansville solo shot to make the score 6-1. He kept his composure though to sit down the next batter on three straight strikes to get out of the inning. He faced little resistance in the sixth inning as he needed just 10 pitches to get through the frame unscathed.
In the seventh, Denney worked around a leadoff single to force a flyout to left field followed by a pair of swinging strikeouts.
UT Martin put up a pair of runs in the eighth inning as Eldridge worked a five-pitch walk just before Whitley swung a heavy bat to send one over the left field wall and make things 6-3.
The Skyhawk rally came up just short in the waning frame of action. Blake Daniels reached base via an error to open the inning followed by a Stoner fielder’s choice. Harford then singled through the right side to put a pair of runners on. Both Stoner and Harford would move up a bag on a wild pitch but would remain stranded as the comeback would not be in the cards.