SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 8, Southeast Missouri 7
@Eastern Kentucky 3, Belmont 2 (10 innings)
Jacksonville State 13, @Austin Peay 8
@SIUE 11, Murray State 9
@UT Martin 8, Tennessee Tech 1
Eastern Illinois 13, @VMI 5
MOREHEAD STATE 8, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 7
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Propelled by a first-inning grand slam from junior third baseman Dom Peroni, a third-inning three run homer by junior second baseman Ryan Layne and a shutdown job in the ninth frame by senior left-hander David Looney, Morehead State baseball completed a series sweep over Southeast Missouri with an 8-7 triumph at Allen Field Saturday.
The Senior Day victory moved MSU to 37-19 overall. The Eagles concluded the 2019 OVC ledger at 19-11.
Morehead State closed out the 2019 home-game schedule with a program-record 26-2 mark.
Senior shortstop Reid Leonard, playing in his final home game, led off the first by extending his hitting streak to 17 games with a single. After two outs, seniors Connor Pauly and Trevor Snyder drew back-to-back walks off SEMO (21-32/10-20) starter Noah Niznik. Junior DH Jon Burghardt was plunked by Niznik's next pitch, and then Peroni cleared the bases with his second grand slam of the year to make it 5-0.
The Redhawks managed two runs (only one earned) off Eagle sophomore righty starter Will Lozinak, but Layne pushed the advantage to 8-2 in the third with a towering shot over the right-field wall.
SEMO made it interesting by scoring one in the sixth and four more in the seventh to creep to within 8-7. But, junior reliever Jake Ziegelmeyer left the would-be tying run stranded on third with an inning-ending strikeout in the eighth.
Looney, whose save was his third of the season, struck out all three Redhawks in the ninth to preserve the sweep.
Layne paced the 10-hit day at the plate with three hits, while Leonard, Peroni and sophomore third baseman Stephen Hill collected two each.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, BELMONT 2 (10)
RICHMOND, Ky. - A sacrifice fly by Daniel Harris IV in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team a 3-2, series-clinching, win over Belmont University on Saturday at Earle Combs Stadium.
The sixth seeded Colonels will begin play in the double elimination Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET. EKU will face No. 3 seed Morehead State University. The game will air live on ESPN+.
Eastern Kentucky (30-25, 16-14 OVC) reached several milestones with the win. The Colonels have posted back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000. EKU’s 16 conference victories are the most for the program since 2013. Eastern finished tied for fifth in the OVC standings, its highest finish since placing fifth in 2013. The victory on Saturday secured the Colonels’ seventh conference series victory of the season, their most in one season since winning seven during the OVC Championship campaign of 2012.
Will Johnson began the bottom of the 10th inning with a double to left. A sacrifice bunt by Ryland Kerr moved Johnson into scoring position with one out. Belmont intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a double play opportunity at every base. However, Harris didn’t give the Bruins the ground ball they were hoping for. He lifted a 1-1 pitch into short center field. The throw home was off target and Johnson scored easily.
Harris finished the game 1-for-3 with a walk and the game-winning RBI. Charles Ludwick had a 2-for-4 day with two RBIs.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first inning, Eastern Kentucky took the lead in the bottom half on a two-out, two-run single to left by Ludwick. Belmont tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Chas Hadden in the top of the third inning.
Aaron Ochsenbein (5-2) pitched the final three innings and earned the win. He allowed one hit, walked one and struck out five.
Hadden went 2-for-4 with a run driven in for Belmont (26-28, 18-12 OVC).
JACKSONVILLE STATE 13, AUSTIN PEAY 8
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A day after securing the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference baseball regular season championship, Jacksonville State completed the weekend sweep of Austin Peay on Saturday, 13-8, at APSU's Raymond C. Hand Park.
The Gamecocks will now turn their attention to the 2019 OVC Baseball Championship next week in Marion, Illinois. JSU, the top seed in the eight-team field, will not play until Thursday, May 23 at 11 a.m. at Rent One Ballpark. The winner of the No. 4 seed Belmont and No. 5 seed Murray State contest will move on to face the Gamecocks. Jax State concluded the regular season at 34-21 and 22-8 against league competition. The 34 wins matches the 2016 club that finished 34-24, while the 22 conference wins matches the most by a Gamecock team since the 2013 campaign (22-8). APSU dropped to 30-23 on the season and 19-11 in OVC play. The Govs will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the survivor of the No. 7 seed Eastern Illinois and No. 8 seed UT Martin contest in the opening contest of the tournament. JSU claimed its first series sweep of APSU in Clarsville and the first since 2016.
JSU, which won the 2019 crown with a 4-3 win in 10 innings on Thursday and a 14-5 decision on Friday, maintained its hot offensive performance with 12 of its 13 runs in the first five innings. JSU expanded the lead in the first four plate appearance before APSU answered the Gamecocks' five-run top of the fourth with one of its own.
The win was JSU's ninth consecutive win, dating back to its's series-finale win at UTM. The streak ranks as the fourth-best in NCAA Division I Baseball as the sport heads in to postseason play. A key throughout the streak has been different players stepping up for JSU. On Thursday, it was a pitching dominant performance by redshirt junior Garrett Farmer and on Friday, senior Nic Gaddis had three hits, including a clutch grand slam.
On Saturday, junior Alex Webb had a stellar day at the plate with a four-hit day and driving in six runs. For the second time this season, the Columbia, Tennessee native had a pair of home runs. He started the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning and broke the contest open with a grand slam - his second in just over a week.
After APSU tallied a trio of home runs in the five-run fourth to cut the deficit to 9-5, Jax State answered with a three-run fifth. Junior Andrew Naismith had a two-run double, followed by an RBI single by sophomore Cole Frederick. Frederick extended his hitting streak to 15 straight games as he finished with a pair of hits. Junior Tre Kirlin turned in a three-hit day, while Isaac Alexander, Naismith and Nash Adams all had two hits. Alex Strachan had a two-run home run in JSU's second inning, giving him two in consecutive days.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan Hathcock picked up the win, while JSU used six pitchers out of the bullpen.
SIUE 11, MURRAY STATE 9
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE baseball wrapped up its 2019 season with an 11-9 win over Murray State Saturday, giving the Cougars the series win. Despite the win, SIUE was eliminated from contention for a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament when UT Martin defeated Tennessee Tech earlier in the day.
SIUE finished the season at 19-32 overall and 11-19 in the OVC. Murray State is 23-28 overall and 16-14 in the OVC.
Prior to the game, SIUE recognized 13 seniors playing their final games for the Cougars.
The Cougars trailed 9-5 before scoring six times in the seventh inning to take the lead for good.
Seniors Dustin Woodcock, Brock Weimer, Peyton Cordova-Smith and Jordan Ross all turned in a multi-hit day for the Cougars, who finished with a season-best 16 hits.
David Llorens started and worked 4 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs on five hits. Four seniors followed. Ryan Byrd allowed a pair of runs before Chris Robinson (4-3), Michael Shereyk and Tyler Hutchinson combined to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Robinson earned the win with 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three. Shereyk worked 1/3 of an inning and Hutchinson earned his second save of the season with a perfect ninth inning, including two strikeouts.
UT MARTIN 8, TENNESSEE TECH 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team claimed a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with today’s 8-1 win over Tennessee Tech.
The sweep of the Golden Eagles mark the first time since 1994 that the Skyhawks have taken all three games from Tennessee Tech and the first over an OVC foe since 2017 (SIUE).
UT Martin (24-29, 12-18 OVC) was led at the dish by senior outfielder Jordan Stoner as he plated a team-high three runs. Blake Davis paced the Skyhawks in hits with a pair of knocks on the day while also driving in one run. Also collecting a hit and an RBI in the contest was the trio of Sean Dixson, Creighton Eldridge and Casey Harford. Blake Daniels did not hit safely in the game but he was issued three walks to lead the club in free passes.
Southpaw Sam Folks (5-6) was outstanding in his six innings of shutout baseball. The Franklin, Tenn. native allowed just three hits and three walks as he fanned a career-high nine batters. Senior righty Zach Denney came on for one inning of relief work as he conceded just one hit and one hit batsman in a scoreless frame. Nick Wohlbold tossed the final two frames of the day as he allowed one earned run. He did however ring up a trio of Golden Eagles in his time toeing the rubber.
Folks faced some slight resistance in the opening frame as he issued a walk to the first batter but found a friendly fly ball to right field followed by a strikeout to retire the next two batters. He would allow a single but forced the final batter he faced to ground out to the shortstop to avoid any trouble. Folks made fairly quick work of Tennessee Tech in the second inning as he forced a fly out to open the frame and followed that up with a swinging strikeout. He issued a four-pitch walk but found a groundball to second base to end the inning.
UT Martin made the most of its time in the second inning as seven Skyhawks scored in the frame. Daniels got the big inning going as he drew a six-pitch free base before a Whitley fielder’s choice just left Whitley on the base paths. Billy Edwards would work the count for a six-pitch walk of his own before Cox battled for a 10-pitch free base as well to load up the bases. Sticking with the theme, Dixson earned a walk as well on six pitches which plated Whitley. An Eldridge single back to the pitcher would be good enough to bring in Edwards. Stoner hit his 34th career double to move him into sixth all-time in program history. His two-bagger would clear the bases as the trio of Cox, Dixson and Eldridge all came home. Stoner would move up to third base on a wild pitch before a Harford double down the left field line brought in Stoner. A Davis knock to center drove in Harford to give UT Martin a 7-0 advantage.
Folks got back to work in the third inning as he sat down the side in order via fly out to center, swinging strikeout and groundout to second, respectively. He chugged right along in the fourth as he fanned the first two batters of the frame and induced a ground ball to second base to end the inning. Folks recorded the first two outs of the fifth via strikeout before allowing a pair of singles and a walk. He kept his composure though as he got another swinging strikeout to work out of the pickle.
The Skyhawks brought home another run in the fifth as Edwards got the frame going after being plunked. Cox would also get on via hit by pitch. Later, Edwards moved over to third on a wild pitch just before Eldridge would earn a four-pitch free base. Another wild pitch would allow Edwards to scoot home and push the UT Martin lead out to 8-0.
In his final inning, Folks would work around a leadoff hit by pitch situation to fan the next batter. He then forced a pop out to the catcher followed by a line out to third base.
Denney would come on in the sixth and worked around a leadoff double followed by a hit by pitch as he forced a lineout that worked into a double play. He then induced a ground out to third base to end the inning.
Wohlbold entered the contest in the eighth and sat down the side in order during his first inning of work. He bookended the frame with looking strikeout with a pop out to third sandwiched in between. In the ninth, he was tagged for a run but recorded one strikeout in the process as he secured the postseason play for the Skyhawks.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 15, VMI 5
LEXINGTON, Va. - The Eastern Illinois baseball team wrapped up their regular season with a win at Virginia Military Institute. The Panthers were able to defeat the Keydets 7-3 Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers finished the 2019 season with an overall record of 26-29 and 13-17 in the OVC.
The Panthers kicked off the game with a second inning rally to lead by six runs. Trey Sweeney drove in the Panthers first run of the inning with a one-run single to center field. Christian Pena would drive a grand slam to left center to extend the Panther lead to five runs. Jimmy Govern would earn one of his five RBIs on the afternoon with a one-run single to left field.
Govern would hit his second one-run single of the game in the top of the fifth inning to give the Panthers a seven run lead.
Jordan Ebersole would get VMI on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double to right field.
EIU would earn their eighth run of the game when a pitch with the bases loaded hit Tyler Tesmond to drive in Ryan Knernschield.
The Keydets rallied in the bottom of the sixth to score three runs cutting the Panther lead to 8-5.
EIU would respond in the top of the seventh with a three-run inning. Govern would get the scoring started with a solo home run to right field. Keith Kerrigan would drive in the second run of the inning with a single to right field. Trey Sweeney drove in his second run of the game with a single to right field to give EIU an 11-5 lead.
Govern would drive his second home run of the game in the top of the eighth inning with a two run homer to right center.
The Panthers were able to hold on to take the final game of their series against the Keydets 13-5.