Photo by Patrick Clark
WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Kennesaw State 12,
Jacksonville State 10
Dayton 20,
@Eastern Kentucky 13
#22 Southern Illinois 21,
@Southeast Missouri 4
Eastern Illinois 9, @Illinois State 7
SIUE 6, @Saint Louis 1
KENNESAW STATE 12, JACKSONVILLE STATE 10
KENNESAW, Ga. - The Jacksonville State baseball team dropped the final game of an eight-game road trip to Kennesaw State, 12-10, on Wednesday night at Stillwell stadium.
The Gamecocks dropped to 8-11 overall.
JSU played uphill the entire contest as every time KSU's lead declined, the Owls were able to extend the lead. KSU (12-8) took an early 4-0 lead with four runs off of Jax State starter Jake Peppers in the first inning. The Gamecocks responded with a three-run second inning, highlighted by Nash Adams double.
The Owls would extend the lead to 7-3 through the fourth inning before Trevor Andrews delivered his first home run in a JSU uniform to open the fifth. Andrews finished with a pair of RBI after pushing a run across the plate in his first plate appearance. The Owls added three more runs in the home half of the fifth to take a comfortable 10-4 lead.
JSU crawled its way back into the midweek affair in the final three plate appearances. With the bases loaded, Carson Crowe came off the bench for a bases-clearing double to get the Gamecocks within three runs. KSU would add an unearned run in the seventh and an insurance run in the eighth. The big hit in JSU's seventh inning was a triple by Alex Strachan.
Adams added to his RBI total with an infield single, followed by JSU's second triple of the night off the bat of Tre Kirklin, scoring Adams on the play. Adams was the lone Gamecock with multiple hits in the contest.
The Gamecocks' threatened in the ninth and had the tying runs on base after an RBI single by Alex Webb.
DAYTON 20, EASTERN KENTUCKY 13
RICHMOND, Ky. - The two teams combined for 19 runs in the first two innings, but the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team couldn’t keep up in a 20-13 loss to the University of Dayton on Wednesday at Earle Combs Stadium.
The Flyers (5-14) hit a pair of two-run home runs in the top of the first to grab an early 4-0 lead.
The Colonels (8-12) answered in the bottom half of the inning by hitting three home runs and scoring seven times. With one out and one on, Caleb Upshaw blasted a shot over the wall in left field for his fifth of the season. With two on Daniel Harris IV drove a pitch over the wall in straight-away center to give Eastern a 5-4 lead. Chance Bodine followed with a home run over the wall in left, his first of the season. Cam Ridley’s sacrifice fly in his second at bat of the inning capped the seven-run frame and gave the home team a 7-4 lead.
Dayton came right back and scored seven in the top half of the second inning. Michael Cleary hit a two-run home run to start the scoring. Mariano Ricciardi followed with a solo shot. Mitchell Garrity had a three-run triple to cap it and put the visitors in front 11-7. UD led the rest of the way.
Harris finished 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs. Logan Thomason was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Ricciardi was 3-for-4 with two walks, three runs and two RBIs. Garrity had two hits in three at bats, scored twice and drove in four.
#22 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 21, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (10-9) fell to #22 Southern Illinois (18-1), 21-4, Wednesday night at Capaha Field.
SEMO and SIU played a game that lasted over four hours and included 25 runs, 25 hits, 19 pitchers and 23 walks.
SIU scored in six innings with six runs in the second, four in the fourth and seventh in the ninth to key its season-high score.
Ahead, 2-0, SIU hit a pair of home runs as part of its six-run second inning to take a seven-run advantage.
The Salukis carried a 14-3 lead into the ninth inning where they loaded the bases and plated seven more runs, including four on a grand slam by Philip Archer.
SEMO loaded the bases three times and had its share of scoring opportunities, but stranded 15 baserunners. The Redhawks scored once in the first, twice in the third and once more in the ninth.
Jevon Mason touched home on an error for the Redhawks first run of the game. Connor Basler scored Austin Blazevic on an infield single and Peyton Leeper walked with the bases loaded to score Danny Wright in the third. Then, in the ninth, Danny Sperling singled to right and Brett Graber scored.
Hunter Ralls (1-1) took the loss. Ralls walked two, allowed a hit and gave up two runs on 16 pitches. Of the nine relievers that pitched after Ralls exited the game with no outs in the first inning, Bryce Grossius was in the longest. Grossius worked 2.1 innings with two strikeouts.
SEMO pitchers issued a season-high 13 walks in the game.
Gage O'Brien (1-0) was credited with his first win of the season.
SIU outhit SEMO, 17-8.
Nick Neville fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and reached base six times. He went 4-for-5 with three runs, a walk and four RBI. Archer also went 4-for-6 with three runs and four RBI for the Salukis.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 9, ILLINOIS STATE 7
NORMAL, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (11-9, 2-4 OVC) defeated the Illinois State Redbirds (6-12, 0-0 MVC), 9-7. Trey Sweeney went 4-4 with a home run in the victory of the in-state rival Redbirds. Ryan Knernschield went 2-5 with three RBI in his first game back for EIU. The Panthers will host SEMO for a weekend series starting on Friday, Mar. 3, at Coaches Stadium.
The Panthers started strong in Wednesday's game, putting up three runs early on the Redbirds. DiLuca got the Panthers rally started with a nine-pitch walk, followed by an Eickhoff bunt in which he reached first. This brought up the OVC's leader in RBI: Trey Sweeney, who doubled into center field and scored one. Knernschield started his comeback with a single that scored Eickhoff and Sweeney to give EIU an early 3-0 lead.
Illinois State managed to tie the game up, heading into the third inning.
In the fourth, the Panthers managed their biggest offensive inning, in which they put up four more runs. Smith started the Panthers' offensive explosion with a double, followed by a Christian Pena walk. The Panthers came down to their final out with two on base to put the hot bat of Eickhoff in the batter's box. Eickhoff came through with a triple to score the two runners. Sweeney hit a home run over the center-field fence to give the Panthers a 7-3 lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Panthers were able to put two on base with back-to-back walks from Dane Toppel and DiLuca. The runners advanced on a balk to put both in scoring position. Eickhoff hit a grounder to the shortstop to score Toppel and put DiLuca at third. Sweeney walked, and Knernschield knocked in another with a single down the right-field line. The Panthers lead 9-5.
Ignoffo entered and shut the door on the Redbirds in the seventh and eighth innings. Stevenson closed the game out 9-7, giving EIU their ninth non-conference win of the season.
SIUE 6, SAINT LOUIS 1
ST. LOUIS - SIUE homered three times, accounting for all six runs and seven Cougar pitchers limited Saint Louis to a run on five hits in a 6-1 win over the Billikens Wednesday at the Billiken Sports Complex.
SIUE has won two in a row and improved to 8-9 overall. The Billikens fell to 6-14. SIUE has won both meetings between the teams this year.
The game was scoreless in the seventh when Brady Bunten connected for his first home run of the year, a long blast to left with one out to put the Cougars up 1-0. With two outs, Avery Owusu-Asiedu struck out but reached first on a passed ball, keeping the inning alive for SIUE. Steven Pattan singled and Josh Ohl was hit by a pitch before Brett Johnson turned on a pitch to right and lined it out for his second home run of the year and first career grand slam to put SIUE on top 5-0.
In the eighth, Raul Elguezabal hit a one-out solo home run, his second of the year, to extend SIUE's lead to 6-0.
Six of the Cougars' seven hits came after the sixth inning. Johnson paced the Cougars with two hits and four RBIs
The only Billiken run came in the bottom of the eighth when Kyle Fitzgerald scored on a wild pitch.
Brant Glidewell started the game and threw two innings. Quin Waterhouse threw a scoreless inning and Alec Kubic tossed to scoreless innings. Ryan Swanson and Tyler Bastunas followed with scoreless innings each before Rob Parks allowed the run in the eighth. Ryan Brink finished the game off with a scoreless ninth inning.
Swanson (1-0) picked up his first win of the year after throwing the bottom of the sixth inning.