FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Charlotte 12,
Morehead State 4
@#15 Georgia Tech 12,
Eastern Kentucky 6
Southeast Missouri 4, @South Alabama 2
@Samford 5,
UT Martin 3
Southern Illinois 8,
@Jacksonville State 7
CHARLOTTE 12, MOREHEAD STATE 4
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Morehead State Baseball put together a four-run ninth-inning rally in its 2021 season opener Friday at Charlotte, but unfortunately the host 49ers had already put together six scoring innings and three multi-run innings as the Eagles fell 12-4 at Hayes Ballpark.
It marked the first game for the Eagles since March 9, 2020 when they defeated Dayton before having the season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Charlotte hadn't seen action since March 10 when it knocked off nationally-ranked NC State.
Morehead State got a two-run single, a wild pitch score and a solo-run single in the ninth to score its four tallies, but Charlotte busted the game open in the second and third frames with seven total runs, including five in the second. An Eagle fielding error led to four of those runs being unearned though.
The Eagles used three pitchers on the day, with junior righty Will Lozinak absorbing the loss. He allowed only three earned runs but six hits in 2.1 innings. Sophomore right-hander Joe Rotkis and junior righty Jarrett Miller also saw action. Rotkis fanned four 49er batters, and Miller was a bright spot with three strikeouts over an inning-and-two-thirds.
#15 GEORGIA TECH 12, EASTERN KENTUCKY 6
ATLANTA - Eastern Kentucky University’s baseball team nearly got out of the sixth inning down just 2-1 at No. 15 Georgia Tech, but the Yellowjackets scored six runs with two outs on their way to a 12-6 season-opening win.
The Colonels tied the game 1-1 in the top of the fifth. Cam Ridley led off the inning with a single to center and then stole second base. With one out and Ridley on third, Daniel Harris IV grounded out to the shortstop to drive in the tying run.
Georgia Tech had a 2-1 lead with two outs and two on in the bottom of the sixth inning. Andrew Jenkins lifted a fly ball to center that hit off the fielder’s glove. Two runs scored on the play. The Yellowjackets added four more unearned runs in the inning on a pair of two-run home runs by Stephen Reid and Jake Holland. GT led 8-1 going to the seventh.
The Colonels climbed back into the game in the top of the seventh. With one out and runners at second and third, Caleb Upshaw doubled up the middle to bring in both runners and cut the deficit to 8-3. After a single to center by Brent Lovell, Kendal Ewell followed with a 2-run double down the left field line to make it a three-run game. A throwing error on a stolen base attempt allowed Ewell to score to make it 8-6.
Georgia Tech added four in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Drew Compton hit a solo home run in the frame.
Ridley finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored. Upshaw was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. Ewell had a 2-for-4 day with a walk, a run and two RBIs.
Darren Williams started for EKU on his birthday. The redshirt junior allowed two runs on five hits in five innings of work. He struck out four and walked four.
Reid went 2-for-5 with a run and four RBIs for Georgia Tech. Starter Brant Hurter allowed one run on four hits in four and two-thirds innings. He walked three and struck out three.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4, SOUTH ALABAMA 2
MOBILE, Ala - Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference left-hander Dylan Dodd struck out eight and allowed only one walk to lead Southeast Missouri (1-0) to an opening day 4-2 victory over South Alabama (0-1) Friday.
In his third career opening day start, Dodd was stronger as the game went along en route to claiming his first win of the 2021 campaign.
Dodd (1-0) retired 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced before giving way to Bryce Grossius in the seventh. He pitched back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth frames.
SEMO trailed, 1-0, after three innings, but gave Dodd his first lead of the season to work with.
Andrew Keck singled and Austin Blazevic was hit by a pitch. Peyton Leeper's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners before Lincoln Andrews delivered a two-RBI single to left center putting the Redhawks ahead, 2-1.
SEMO tacked on two more runs in the top of the sixth where it loaded the bases with no outs. Blazevic and Leeper both walked and Andrews got his second base hit of the game to put Redhawks at every base. Noah Jacobsen hit into a fielder's choice and Blazevic scored. Then, Connor Basler executed a safety squeeze with a beautiful bunt up the first base line and Leeper touched home to make it a 4-1 game.
With a run already, a runner on first and the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, USA came up empty after left-hander Blake Cisneros struck out Hunter Stokes who homered in the third inning. Cisneros took the mound for his 29th career appearance.
More good work by SEMO's bullpen followed in the eighth where freshman right-hander Kyle Miller turned away the Jaguars getting a strikeout and two groundball outs in his Redhawk debut.
Miller continued to carve up USA with his fastball and, as a result, struck out the side to put the Redhawks first win on ice. His first career save came on six outs.
SEMO outhit USA, 7-5. Andrews and Basler paved the way with two hits apiece. Andrews (2) and Basler (1) combined to knock in three of the Redhawks runs. Andrews had the first runs batted in of his career and Basler went over 150 career hits, as well.
Tyler Wilber, Keck and Blazevic followed with one hit each.
Andy Arguelles (0-1) suffered the loss for the Jaguars. Arguelles gave up two runs on four hits, struck out four and walked one in four innings. Jase Dalton allowed two runs out of USA's bullpen.
Defensively, the Jaguars committed three errors.
SEMO improved to 12-18 all-time in season-openers during its NCAA Division I era. Dodd moved to 2-1 in his opening day starts.
SAMFORD 5, UT MARTIN 3
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin outhit preseason Southern Conference favorite Samford today but a big second inning proved to be the difference as the Skyhawks fell 5-3 in the 2021 baseball season opener at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Seven different UT Martin batters collected a hit today as the Skyhawks pieced together 10 hits. Sean Dixson, Ethan Whitley and Will Smith each had two-hit days while Casey Harford and Christian Hall both drove in a run. Harford, Houston Wright and Benny DeTrude each crossed the plate in the top of the ninth as UT Martin had the tying run at the plate with one away but the comeback attempt was stalled.
Winston Cannon made the 42nd start of his career on the mound for the Skyhawks, receiving the loss after going four innings while allowing four runs on four hits. He fanned four batters and mostly made short work of the vaunted Bulldog offense but Samford scored all four runs during a two-out rally in the second frame.
A trio of UT Martin relievers performed well today in Baylor Jones (two innings), David Hussey (one inning) and Matthew Shunk (one inning). They combined to allow one unearned run on just two hits over the final four frames to cap off a season opener where the Bulldogs could only muster six hits (five of which were singles).
Dixson delivered the first hit of the season with a hard-hit single up the middle in the top of the first. Cannon did not allow a ball out of the infield in the bottom half and quickly got two outs with runners on the corners in the second inning. Three straight Samford hitters then reached base and after a wild pitch, the Bulldogs took a 4-0 advantage.
Smith and Dixson each singled in the third inning with only one out but Samford was able to wiggle out of the jam. Cannon recovered nicely with a nine-pitch frame in the third, retiring the side in order. He then put another zero on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, his final inning of work.
Making just the second appearance of his collegiate career, Jones breezed through the fifth inning on just 11 pitches. The Bulldogs managed to take a 5-0 lead in the sixth after a one-out Skyhawk error led to a run off a safety squeeze bunt.
Hussey pitched around a leadoff single in the seventh to put up another clean frame for the UT Martin bullpen. In the top of the eighth, the Skyhawk bats started to come alive as Blake Davis and Smith led off the inning with opposite-field singles. However, Samford used only seven pitches to avoid trouble by inducing a popup and an inning-ending double play.
Shunk made his UT Martin debut in the bottom of the eighth, keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard to set up a dramatic rally in the ninth.
Wright opened with a single and soon scored on a double down the left field line off the bat of Harford. After Wil LaFollette reached on an error, DeTrude came into pinch run as Samford summoned its closer out of the bullpen. Hall delivered a big one-out RBI single to plate Harford and bring the tying run to the dish with one out. After DeTrude scampered home on a wild pitch to make the score 5-3, the Bulldogs were able to hang on for the win by retiring the final two batters.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 8, JACKSONVILLE STATE 7
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State's late rally came up short on the opening day of the baseball season as Southern Illinois held on to an 8-7 decision over JSU on a chilly afternoon on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.
JSU put together a round robin weekend event with SIU, Alabama State and Tennessee Tech after a winter weather storm blanketed the southeast region. The Gamecocks were scheduled to face Baylor in a three-game weekend series in Waco, Texas, but it was canceled midweek. The opening weekend action on the JSU campus continues on Saturday and Sunday with five games over the next two days between the four clubs.
The Salukis expanded a two-run lead out to a six-run cushion in the top half of the seventh after a four-run frame that was aided by a bases-clearing double by SIU's Philip Archer to make it an 8-2 contest.
Jax State's offense thawed out in its portion of the seventh with five runs on two hits. SIU pitching issued three consecutive walks to junior Cole Frederick, senior Alex Webb and junior Alex Strachan before graduate transfer Jaylyn Williams earned a free RBI with the fourth free pass of the inning. Williams joined the Gamecocks after two seasons at Jackson State and was an All-SWAC performer. Williams, from Greenville, Mississippi, collected the first JSU RBI of the season with a single in the first inning. Freshman Derrick Jackson, Jr. turned in the big hit of the frame with a double to left field, pushing two more runs across the board. Sophomore Carson Crowe, who sparked the lineup with a towering leadoff home run the sixth, recorded his second RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to right field.
SIU thwarted Jax State's offense over the final two innings behind the pitching of Trey McDaniel, who tossed the final three innings to earn the save. SIU's Matthew Steidl picked up with win after limiting the Gamecocks to one hit in 1.1 innings of work.
The Gamecocks used six pitchers in the season debut and handed the opening day start to junior Christian Edwards. Edwards, making his first career start, went 3.2 innings and touched for four hits. He posted four strikeouts on the day as the six JSU combined for 12 strikeouts in the setback. Isaiah Magwood, Colton Lewis, Camden Lovrich, Jackson Tavel and Trey Fortner all saw time out of the bullpen.
Offensively, JSU turned in eight hits, led by Frederick's pair of singles. Junior Tanner Snow delivered a key RBI single in JSU's five-run seventh. Snow, from Rainbow City, Alabama, spent two seasons at Shelton State Community College. Strachan had a single in the fifth inning.