SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 5, Murray State 4
@Eastern Kentucky 8, Tennessee Tech 2
Southeast Missouri 10-3, @Belmont 6-1
Eastern Illinois 15, @SIUE 7
@UT Martin 4, Jacksonville State 2
@Austin Peay 8, Jacksonville 3
MOREHEAD STATE 5, MURRAY STATE 4
MOREHEAD, Ky. - In a back and forth battle, Morehead State baseball got a one-out, RBI single from junior third baseman Dom Peroni in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Eagles claimed a 5-4 victory over Murray State to secure a series sweep Sunday at Allen Field.
It marked Morehead State's (32-17/15-9 OVC) first sweep over the Racers (19-25/13-11) since 1996, and ironically current head coach Mike McGuire was a graduate assistant on the Eagle coaching staff that season.
After picking up the save in Saturday's win, Conway (1-1) worked the final 2.2 innings today and didn't allow a hit to go along with three strikeouts. With the potential tying run on third after a fielding error, stolen base and throwing error on the steal attempt, Conway struck out the final Racer batter.
The eighth inning rally started with a single by senior left-fielder Jake Hammon. Two batters later, junior designated hitter Jon Burghardt slashed a single past first base to push Hammon to third. On a 2-0 count from reliever Justin Thomas, Peroni knocked a line drive just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Jordan Holly to score Hammon with the go-ahead tally.
The Eagles led 2-0 after three frames, including an RBI double by senior center-fielder Connor Pauly in the third inning. But, Brock Anderson tied the game with his two-run long ball in the top of the fourth. Junior second baseman Ryan Layne answered with an RBI double that landed just inside the left-field line in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2.
Once again the Racers answered. Sean Darmafall's solo shot in the fifth tied the game. Not to be outdone, Burghardt hit his fourth home run in the last four games in the sixth to give his team a 4-3 lead. Holly knotted the game again with an RBI single in the seventh.
Burghardt, Peroni, Layne and senior shortstop Reid Leonard all tabulated two hits apiece as the Eagles totaled 10 on the game.
Eagle starter Garbrick went a career-best 6.1 innings and struck out a career-high 10.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 8, TENNESSEE TECH 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Brennan Kelly pitched a gem to lead the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team to an 8-2 win over Tennessee Tech University in the Ohio Valley Conference series finale on Sunday at Earle Combs Stadium.
With the victory, EKU (26-22, 12-12 OVC) wins the series 2-1.
Kelly, a junior from Wabash, Indiana, pitched eight scoreless innings before allowing two runs in the top of the ninth. He walked three, struck out seven and allowed six hits in eight and one-third innings.
A.J. Lewis got Eastern on the board with a run-scoring infield single in the bottom of the first. The Colonels doubled a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Logan Thomason drove in Nick Howie with a ground ball and Lewis scored on a ground ball by Daniel Harris IV.
EKU had a 5-0 lead when Harris hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. It was his fifth of the season.
A single to center by Gavin Johns in the top of the ninth brought home two runs for the Golden Eagles (19-27, 7-17 OVC) and broke up the shutout.
Harris finished 1-for-4 with a run and four RBIs. Ryland Kerr went 2-for-4 and scored twice. Lewis had a 2-for-3 day with a walk, two runs and an RBI.
Kevin Strohschein was 2-for-4 for Tennessee Tech.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 10-3, BELMONT 6-1
NASHVILLE - Southeast Missouri (22-27, 9-15 OVC) swept Belmont (23-23, 17-9 OVC) in a doubleheader to win its first Ohio Valley Conference series Sunday. The Redhawks won by scores of 10-6 and 3-1.
SEMO dropped Belmont to third in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The Bruins entered their series against the Redhawks in a tie for first.
Tied, 4-4, after six innings, SEMO scored the next six runs to power its way to its game one victory.
The Redhawks scored twice in the seventh inning on a two-out, two-RBI single by Peyton Faulkner. Faulkner's hit scored both Andrew Keck and Alex Nielsen.
Hunter Southerland walked with the bases loaded and Austin Blazevic scored with two outs in the top of the eighth.
SEMO tacked on three more runs to cap its win in the ninth inning. Tyler Wilber knocked in Danny Wright on a double to left center. Wilber touched home on a two-out double to left by Wilber. Blazevic then scored on a wild pitch.
Daniel Bergtholdt (5-5) evened his record on the moundt his season allowing one hit and two runs in five innings out of the bullpen. Bergtholdt also struck out four.
Freshman Andrew Keck went 4-for-4 with a run scored, two doubles and two RBI to lead SEMO which registered 14 hits. Keck reached base six times. Nielsen followed with three hits and three runs, while Southerland and Faulkner added two hits apiece. In addition, Blazevic scored three times, while Connor Basler, Wright and Wilber each had a hit and scored.
The Redhawks and Bruins were again tied, this time at 1-1 after six innings during the nightcap.
SEMO broke the deadlock with clutch two-out back-to-back hits by Basler and Wright. Basler drove in Southerland and Wright's single to left allowed Trent Pobst to score giving the Redhawks a 3-1 advantage.
Noah Niznik retired the Bruins in order in the seventh inning to polish off SEMO's doubleheader sweep. Niznik, now 3-3, went the distance striking out six, walking two and allowing one run on four hits in seven innings.
Basler (2-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI) and Wright (3-for-4, 2 RBI) combined for five of SEMO's seven hits and all three of the Redhawks RBI.
The series win moved the Redhawks to eighth in the OVC standings with six conference games left.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 15, SIUE 7
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois baseball team competed in a rubber match against SIUE Sunday afternoon. The Panthers scored 15 in the series finally taking the series.
The Panthers kicked off the game scoring eight unanswered runs throughout the first six innings. Jimmy Govern drove in the Panthers first two runs of the game with his 13th homerun of the season. Five different EIU batters collected RBIs through the first six innings of play for the Panthers.
Dustin Woodcock drove in the first run of the game for SIUE in the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo homerun.
EIU would have their most explosive inning of the game in the top of the eighth inning. The Panthers would tack on five runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a 13-1 lead over the Cougars.
SIUE would answer back in the bottom of the eighth inning scoring six runs to cut the lead down to 13-7.
Trey Sweeney would extend the EIU lead to 15 with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth.
Foster Anshutz improved to 6-1 on the season with the win Sunday afternoon. Anshutz finished the afternoon with 5.2 innings pitched and one strikeout.
UT MARTIN 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin notched a 4-2 win over Ohio Valley Conference foe Jacksonville State this evening with both sides of the ball pulling through for the Skyhawks.
Offensively, UT Martin (20-26, 8-15 OVC) was led by the big bat of Blake Davis. The catcher out of Crandall, Ga. collected a pair of knocks in the outing including a two-run dinger. Jordan Stoner tallied a two-hit day and plated a run to account for the remaining runs batted in. Casey Harford rounded out the Skyhawk batters in the hit column with one in the contest. Hayden Cooper worked the count twice to get on base via walk while Sean Dixson, Creighton Eldridge and Blake Daniels also earned free bases on the day.
Southpaw Sam Folks drew the starting nod and logged five complete innings. He allowed just two earned runs on five hits and five walks but fanned a trio of Gamecocks in his time toeing the rubber. The UT Martin bullpen was outstanding today as the trio of Marcus Eusebio, Zach Denney and Nick Wohlbold combined for four shutout innings and five strikeouts. Eusebio followed Folks and conceded just one hit in his time on the mound while recording a punchout. Denney (2-1) was credited with the victory. The righty out of Russellville, Ky. came on for 1.2 innings, allowed just two free bases and rung up two. Wohlbold notched his 11th save of the season as he conceded two hits but sat down two Jacksonville State batters on strikes.
The Gamecocks jumped on Folks early as they collected a pair of runs in the opening frame of action to take an early 2-0 lead.
Folks found his footing in the second inning as he struck out the first batter on three pitches, caught the next batter looking and forced a pop out to first base to retire the side in order. He worked out of a pickle in the third as he saw himself faced with bases loaded and one out to fan the next batter and induce a foul out to right field to keep Jacksonville State off the board. Folks worked around a one-out walk in the fourth to find a pop out to second base followed by a fly out to left field to make fairly quick work of the Gamecocks.
UT Martin knotted the score up in the fifth as Daniels led off the frame with a six-pitch free base. Cox was then plunked by a pitch to put a pair of runners on in time for a Stoner single through the right side to plate Daniels. Later, Davis beat out an infield single to third that would be good enough to bring in Cox and make the score 2-2.
Eusebio came on in the sixth inning and worked around a leadoff single to ring up the next batter. He then received a sacrifice bunt followed by a fly out to right field to get out of the inning.
Denney entered the contest in the seventh and struck out the first batter he saw on four pitches. He lost the next two batters via walk after an eight-pitch and six-pitch battle, respectively. However, Denney kept his cool as he sat down the next batter on strikes after an eight-pitch at bat. The next batter lined one right back to Denney as he put up his glove in a defensive move to get out of the frame.
The Skyhawks pushed two more across the plate in the seventh as Stoner got things going with an infield knock to third base. Harford then grounded out to the pitcher but moved Stoner over to second. Then stepped Davis into the batter’s box as he uncorked a towering long ball, on the first pitch he saw, over the scoreboard in left field to give UT Martin a 4-2 lead.
In the eighth, Denney kept chugging along as he induced a pop out to second followed by a lineout to right field. Wohlbold entered with one out remaining in the eighth inning. He conceded a single but forced a fly out to right field to get out of the frame.
Wohlbold found a friendly fly-ball out to left to open the ninth before giving up a double to right field. He kept his composure though to sit down the final two Gamecocks on swinging strikeouts.
AUSTIN PEAY 8, JACKSONVILLE 3
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Right fielder Parker Phillips hit his 50th career home run in Austin Peay State University baseball team’s 8-3 nonconference victory against Jacksonville as part of Senior Day, Sunday afternoon on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Phillips hit two home runs in the contest. His first of the day, and 49th career homer, provided the game’s first three runs in the first inning. Two innings later, he tied his own single-season home run mark with his 19th blast – 50th career – to lead off the third and give the Govs a 4-0 lead.
Austin Peay (26-19) would add a run to its lead in the third when shortstop Garrett Kueber doubled and then scored on left fielder Aaron Campbell’s single. Catcher Alex Sala pushed the lead to 6-0 with a leadoff home run in the fourth.
Ryan Kouba (3-0), making his first start for the Governors, benefitted from the early support and provided four scoreless innings of his own, striking out three while scattering three hits and a walk. Austin Peay used four pitchers out of the bullpen, including closer Brett Newberg whose 96th career appearance set an Austin Peay mark.
Jacksonville (25-22) would break up the Govs shutout bid in the sixth when third baseman Angel Camacho was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Dolphins would get two more runs in the ninth on center fielder Ruben Someillan’s double.
Phillips went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI to lead the Govs offense. Campbell went 2-for-3 with three RBI, adding a two-run single in the eighth.
Jacksonville starter Austin Temple (3-3) suffered the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks over three innings.