SUNDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 10, @Morehead State 4
@Eastern Illinois 5, Jacksonville State 4 (11 innings)
@SIUE 11, Tennessee Tech 9
@UT Martin 14, Southeast Missouri 13
Murray State 20, @Austin Peay 2
@Eastern Kentucky 13, Norfolk State 7
BELMONT 10, MOREHEAD STATE 4
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Belmont baseball team defeated Morehead State 10-4 on Sunday at Allen Field to complete the series sweep.
The sweep marks the second time in the last three years that the Bruins have swept its opponent in the OVC series opener.
Senior Chandler Adkins led the way with two home runs, his first multi home run game of his career, while junior Jackson Campbell came up with three RBIs.
Belmont got on the board first in the top of the second inning thanks to senior Chandler Adkins hitting his first home run of the season. Morehead State was quick to respond in the next half-inning, coming up with a two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead.
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third inning, the Eagles extended their lead off a two-run home run to make it a three-run advantage. Belmont answered back with a six-run top of the fourth inning, starting with junior Logan Jarvis hitting his third home run of the season to cut the deficit down to one.
Following a single from Adkins and a drawn walk by sophomore Carson Shacklett, junior Jackson Campbell came up with his sixth home run of the season to give the lead back to Belmont 6-4.
Sophomore Jack Capobianco scored another run later in the inning off a Morehead State fielding error before Adkins hit his second home run of the day in the top of the fifth inning to give the Bruins a four-run lead.
Adkins' performance was the second time in the last three games where a Belmont player had two home runs in a game.
A sacrifice fly from sophomore Tommy Crider in the top of the seventh inning allowed the Bruins to extend its lead 9-4, with a fielding error by Morehead State in the top of the eighth inning giving the Bruins another run and a six-run advantage.
Morehead State came up with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Belmont came up with three outs to collect the win and the sweep. Aaron Hubbell struck out a career high of five batters in five innings pitched to earn the win.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 5, JACKSONVILLE STATE 4 (11)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois claimed victory in a weekend series with Jacksonville State by winning 5-4 in 11 innings on Sunday.
The Panthers four hour game ended in dramatic fashion as Dane Toppel came up to bat in the bottom of the 11th inning. Ryan Knernschield had singled up the middle to put himself at first with no outs. A Sam Nozicka sacrifice bunt put Knernshield in scoring position.
Coach Jason Anderson decided to pinch run for him, as he put in the speedy Ben Snapp. The Panthers had the go-ahead run at second with only one out let up. Alex Stevenson was brought to the plate, and after a battle at the plate, struck out. Toppel made contact with the ball; sending a grounder towards the Jacksonville State third baseman. The third baseman reached back with the ball in his hand and sailed a pitch over the outstretched arm of his first baseman. Snapp touched home and turned immediately to bombard Toppel along with the rest of his team.
Jesse Wainscott started at the mound for the Panthers and pitched through four. Wainscott let up six hits, two runs and three walks before being relieved for Trevor Nicholson. Nicholson pitched 1.2 innings before being pulled for Jack Wolfe. Nicholson ended his outing with two hits, two runs and two walks. Eastern's winning pitcher on the day was Jason DeCicco. DeCicco pitched only 1.1 innings, but struck out all four batters he faced. He is awarded his first win of the season.
The offense finished with ten hits on the day, with the top of the lineup looking stellar. Grant Emme, Trey Sweeney and Christian Pena each had two hits. Pena managed three walks on the day as well. Knernshield had all two of the RBI for the Panthers in today's game, and has been a warrior as he played all three games.
It marked the Panthers win their first series against Jacksonville State since 2011.
SIUE 11, TENNESSEE TECH 9
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE got four home runs from three players on its way to an 11-9 Sunday win and an Ohio Valley Conference series sweep of Tennessee Tech.
The Cougars improved to 8-6 overall and 3-0 in OVC play. Tennessee Tech, which lost for the 11th consecutive time, is 3-11 overall and 0-3 in the OVC.
Brady Bunten paced the Cougars' 12-hit attack. He was 3 for 5 with a three-run home run and a solo shot for four RBIs. The Cougars put up three different three-run innings.
Bunten's three-run home run in the third put SIUE up 3-2 before Tennessee Tech tied the game in the fourth. Tyler Bastunas singled to drive in a run and Josh Ohl added an RBI-groundout in the fourth and SIUE led 6-3. Bunten's solo homer extended SIUE's lead to 7-4 in the fifth.
The Golden Eagles scored four times in the sixth inning to take the lead 8-7, but SIUE answered again.
Brett Pierson capped off a three-hit inning with a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 10-8. Raul Elguezabal led off the seventh with a home run to make it 11-8. Cody Littlejohn led off the ninth with a home run to cut the SIUE advantage to 11-9.
Freshman Preston Salazar started and worked five innings. He allowed six runs, five of them earned, on four hits. He struck out a career-best seven hitters. Ryan Swanson, Rob Parks, Braydon Bone and Cole Milam finished the game for SIUE. Parks (1-0) pitched 1.2 innings without allowing a run. He struck out two. Milam allowed the run in the ninth, but struck out two for his third save.
Jacob Parham (0-1) allowed three runs in an inning of work and suffered the loss for TTU. Hunter Higson led the Golden Eagles at the plate. He was 3 for 4 with two runs. Littlejohn was 1 for 2 with the homer and collected three RBIs.
The sweep is SIUE's first in OVC play since April of 2019 when the Cougars swept UT Martin.
UT MARTIN 14, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 13
MARTIN, Tenn. - In a game with plenty of fireworks, UT Martin took the cake with a walk-off single to complete the ninth-inning rally.
From top to bottom, this game showcased two explosive offenses that wouldn't quit. That was made clear as freshmen Wil LaFollette singled in the game-tying and winning run in the ninth to cap off a four-run inning. The rally all began with a simple single from Davis; from there, the momentum swung towards UTM. After a few batters reached sophomore Jack Culumovic gave UTM the scoring fever as he doubled to centerfield to score freshman Thomas Fullerton. Freshman Christian Hall then joined in with a sacrifice fly to center field, and suddenly the score was 13-12. Just three batters later, all it took was one swing of a bat as junior Houston Wright and Culumovic came into to score to give the Skyhawks the 14-13 victory.
Before a ninth-inning rally, the offensive explosion from both teams began in the first inning. Southeast Missouri came out firing by scoring the first three runs of the inning. Retaliation was the key to the game as every time the Redhawks scored, the Skyhawks answered them in some way. That was no exception in the first inning as freshman Wil LaFollette started his career day with an RBI double to right field. LaFollette finished the day with four hits and five RBIs, two of which came from a two-run home run that barely crossed the right field foul pole in the bottom of the third. Aside from LaFollette's success at the plate, junior Blake Daniels was able to get into the action in the first with a two-RBI single to knot the score at three apiece.
SEMO took back the lead in the second, but after LaFollette's two-run shot, the Skyhawks led 5-4. However, five runs from the Redhawks in the fourth made the lead theirs. Facing a 9-5 deficit in the top of the fourth only lasted for a short time, as the Skyhawks grabbed three in the bottom half of the inning. Junior Blake Davis hit a home run over the right-field wall, and junior Ethan Whitley doubled in two runs. Davis enjoyed his career day as well as he had four hits, including two home runs (fourth and seventh) as well as 3 RBIs.
Before the Skyhawks could enjoy Davis' home run, they were faced with two more runs from the Redhawks. However, after his home run in the seventh UT Martin trailed just 12-10.
For the first time, all game Southeast Missouri would go quietly in consecutive innings as senior David Hussey came into the game. The seventh, eighth and ninth, were all Hussey's as he made only one mistake giving up a solo home run in the ninth. Other then his one blemish, Hussey pitched exceptionally well, allowing one run, one hit, and striking out four.
Hussey's ability to keep the opposing offense quiet proved to be the difference-maker heading into the four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. After the rally finished up, the final score read 14-13 with the Skyhawks taking it.
MURRAY STATE 20, AUSTIN PEAY 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - For the second straight Sunday, the Murray State baseball team put up huge offensive numbers to close out a series, this time defeating Austin Peay, 20-2.
Ten different Racers had a hit in the game, led by Jordan Cozart who went 5-for-6 with three home runs and nine RBI. He became the first Racer with three home runs in a game since 2016 and is already the second Racer this year to have nine RBI in a game after Brock Anderson did so last Sunday against Bowling Green.
Jake Slunder also had a big day at the plate, collecting three hits and a career-high five RBI. Anderson and Trey Woosley also added home runs on the day while Sean Darmafall and Jordan Holly had the other RBIs for the Racers in the game.
On the mound, Sam Gardner had his best outing of the season, throwing six innings with a season-high nine strikeouts while allowing just one run and four hits. Justin Thomas pitched the final three innings, striking out a pair, to earn the save.
Cozart gave the Racers an early lead in the first with an RBI single before hitting his first home run of the game, a grand slam, in the second inning. It is the second grand slam the Racers have hit this year and the second in Cozart's career.
After Slunder made it 8-0 in the third with a bases-loaded single, Cozart hit a solo home run in the fourth to give the Racers a 9-0 advantage.
Murray State doubled their lead in the sixth with nine runs on six hits, including two by Cozart. Anderson got the scoring started in the inning with a two-run home run before Slunder repeated his performance form three innings prior, hitting a two-run single with the bases loaded.
Darmafall continued the barrage with a two-run double before Cozart hit a three-run home run to right-center field, giving the Racers an 18-0 lead in the sixth inning.
Slunder added his fifth RBI of the day in the seventh with a fielder's choice before Woosley capped the scoring in the ninth with his first home run in a Racer uniform.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 13, NORFOLK STATE 7
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team won its seventh straight game and completed a three-game sweep of visiting Norfolk State University with a 13-7 win on Sunday at Earle Combs Stadium.
EKU’s seven-game winning streak matches the longest since the 2005 team won 10 in a row. The 2012 and 2018 squads also won seven straight. Eastern beat Norfolk State 14-2 on Friday and 6-0 on Saturday.
The Colonels (11-2) scored the first four runs of the game, including a 3-run second inning highlighted by a 2-run triple off the bat of A.J. Lewis. It was Lewis’ second triple in his first two trips to the plate.
After the Spartans (2-13) cut the deficit to one with three runs in the top of the third, Marcus Hill pushed the EKU lead back to two, 5-3, with a run scoring single in the bottom half.
Nick Howie and Lewis hit solo home runs in the bottom of the fourth to stretch the lead to four, 7-3. It was Howie’s second round tripper of the season and the third for Lewis.
Eastern Kentucky pulled away with six runs in the bottom of the seventh. Caleb Upshaw had a 2-run single and Logan Thomason made it 13-3 with a 2-run double in the inning.
Lewis finished the day 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs and three RBIs. Howie also went 3-for-4 with a walk. He scored three times and drove in two. Charlie Ludwick was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Upshaw went 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Eight of Eastern’s nine starters had at least one hit and all nine scored at least one run.
Korey Singh was 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Norfolk State. Ty Hanchey finished 2-for-5 with a run and two RBIs.