TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 8, Bellarmine 1
@#9 Louisville 8,
Murray State 3
@Eastern Kentucky 2, Marshall 1
UT Martin 5, @North Alabama 1
@Morehead State 12, Ohio 9
EASTERN ILLINOIS 8, BELLARMINE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (8-5) defeated the Bellarmine Knights (3-7), 8-1 in the final match-up. The Panthers were led defensively from seven strong innings from junior Kyle Lang. On offense, it was Logan Eickhoff, Trey Sweeney, and Christian Pena who led the charge for the Panthers.
The Panthers hosted their first game of the season against Bellarmine to finish their three-game season series.
Eastern Illinois struck quickly in the first inning after Lucas DiLuca reached on an error. After a wild pitch put the second baseman in scoring position, Logan Eickhoff knocked a single through the right side to bring DiLuca home. Eickhoff stole second and was batted home by Sweeney, who singled to put the Panthers up 2-0 early.
Lang allowed his only run of the game in the second off a walk followed by a single. Lang was able to recover and exited the inning after letting up one.
Chase Rademacher managed to reach on a walk and advanced to third on a balk and wild pitch in succession. DiLuca was able to reach on another error that sent the catcher home and grew the Panthers lead to 2-1 in the second.
In the third, the Panthers were started by a Sweeney single. After advancing on a wild pitch, Dalton Doyle walked. Bellarmine relieved their starter, but a passed ball put the new pitcher with runners on second and third with one out. Kerrigan was able to power a shot deep to center-field that gave Sweeney enough room to tag up and cross home plate. The Panthers had grown their lead to 4-1.
Lang continued to pitch tough to the Knights, who had only managed to give up four hits through the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Eickhoff and Sweeney both managed a pair of singles to put runners on the corners for the preseason All-OVC selection, Christian Pena. Pena ripped a double into right-field to score two to extend the Panther lead to 6-1.
In the seventh, Eickhoff managed a lead-off walk that brought up Sweeney. Sweeney stayed hot and smacked a loud double into right-field to score Eickhoff. Pena followed with a single of his own that scored the shortstop and put the Panthers up to their winning score of 8-1.
#9 LOUISVILLE 8, MURRAY STATE 3
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Murray State Racers hung with No. 9-ranked Louisville Cardinals but dropped its fourth consecutive game against a ranked opponent, losing 8-3.
Seth Gardner got his first career hit as a Racer, a solo home run to left field in the third inning while Brock Anderson was 2-for-5, with two singles.
Louisville continued to run wild on the base paths, showing why it's the NCAA leader in stolen bases. The Cards swiped seven today, including Levi Usher setting a new Jim Patterson Stadium record with five.
Murray State kept No. 10 Louisville off the board, except for two innings. The Cards scored five runs on five hits and two errors in the second and sealed the game in the seventh with a three-run home run.
The Racers jumped on the board in the first inning, Jordan Cozart reached on an error by the shortstop and moved to third on a single to right from Brock Anderson. He scored on a wild pitch to put Murray State up one early.
Murray State added another run in the second. Alex Crump used a lead-off walk to score on a fielder's choice throwing error by the Louisville pitcher, Tate Kuehner. Ryan Perkins was credited with the RBI.
Seth Gardner, making his second start as designated hitter, launched his first home run of his Racer career as they cut Louisville's lead to 5-3.
The game went scoreless through the next three innings. A strike 'em out, throw 'em out kept the Cardinals off the board in the sixth, as Alec Whaley got out of a bases loaded jam.
In the top half of the seventh, the Racers had runners on the corners with one out. True freshman Riley Hawthorne came up for his first collegiate at-bat, but went down looking.
Louisville native, Connor Holden came on to pitch with two outs in the seventh and one runner on base. The Cardinals added another runner on a fielding error by Trey Woosley and next batter Cooper Bowman homered to left field to increase the Cardinals lead to five.
The Racers struck out 11 times on the evening, seven of them coming to Kuehner.
The Murray State pitching staff featured six arms in the game. True freshman Cade Vernon (0-1) made his second start as a Racer, throwing 1.1 innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs, striking out one.
Jake Jones threw 2.0 innings in relief and gave up no runs. Alec Whaley made his team-high sixth appearance and pitched 2.2 innings, punching out one.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 2, MARSHALL 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Caleb Upshaw drove in both runs for the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team and seven pitchers shutout Marshall University over the final eight innings for a 2-1 victory at Earle Combs Stadium on Tuesday.
Luke Edwards staked the Thundering Herd to a 1-0 lead with a RBI double in the top of the first inning. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Upshaw tied it with a home run over the wall in left field.
EKU (4-7) took the lead in the bottom of the third. Logan Thomason singled to right with one out and then stole second base. On an 0-2 count, Upshaw singled through the right side to plate the go-ahead run.
Neither team scored the rest of the way. Marshall (1-3) put runners at the corners with one out in the top of the eighth but Darren Williams came in and put a stop to the rally attempt. He struck out two straight batters to end the threat. Will Brian pitched a spotless ninth to earn his third save of the season.
Richmond native Bryce Travis started on the mound for the Colonels. After allowing the run in the first he faced the minimum in the second. In two innings he allowed one run on one hit, walked two and struck out three. Six relievers combined for seven shutout innings and allowed only two hits.
Jaxson Blair (1-0) earned the win after pitching two innings. He walked two, allowed one hit and struck out four.
Upshaw finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and two RBIs. Charlie Ludwick also had two hits for Eastern Kentucky.
Four Marshall relievers pitched the final four and one third innings and allowed just one hit and one walk.
UT MARTIN 5, NORTH ALABAMA 1
FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin pitching staff was lights out today at North Alabama, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning while combining for 14 strikeouts in a 5-1 triumph at Mike Lane Field.
Seth Petry (1-0) drew the starting assignment on the mound for the first time in the 2021 campaign, retiring all eight batters he faced with four strikeouts. Eli Martin made his collegiate debut and struck out a pair over 1.1 innings and was followed by Jeffery O’Doherty (two strikeouts in 0.2 innings of work). Boston Smith then made his season debut, needing only one pitch to get one out. Ryan Insco (1.2 innings), Grayden Stauffer (0.1 innings), David Hussey (one inning, three strikeouts) and Nick Wohlbold (one inning, two strikeouts) handled the final four frames for the Skyhawks, who walked only one batter and conceded just three hits.
Offensively, Christian Hall and Casey Harford each went deep for UT Martin, who improves to 4-6 on the season. Houston Wright (two hits, two RBI’s), Blake Daniels (two hits, one run scored) and Will Smith (three walks, two runs scored) also added notable performances for the Skyhawks.
Petry was clicking from the get-go, striking out the first batter he faced en route to a perfect first inning. The sophomore right-hander out of Murfreesboro, Tenn. followed with a pair of called strikeouts in the second and fanned the final batter he faced in the third, earning his fifth career win after being removed on a pitch count.
Meanwhile, the UT Martin bats got off to a hot start. Hall smoked a solo homer out to deep right center to lead off the second inning and Wright laced a two-out, two-run single in the top of the third to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Skyhawks.
Martin’s first out was a memorable one as he needed just five pitches to dispatch the Lion 9-hole hitter via strikeout. He followed with a scoreless fourth with help from his catcher Blake Davis, as he threw out a would-be basestealer for the second out and made a nice play in front of the mound for the third and final out.
Harford deposited a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left center to begin the top of the fifth, extending UT Martin’s advantage out to 4-0.
In the fifth, O’Doherty came in pumping strikes as the senior from Omaha, Neb. fanned the only two batters he faced. Smith was then called in from the bullpen and was efficient – tossing just one pitch to induce a flyout to centerfield. Insco cruised through the sixth, retiring the side in order on just 10 pitches.
The speed of Smith led to a run in the top of the seventh. The freshman from Prattville, Ala. overcame an 0-2 count to work a leadoff walk and soon stole second base. He moved up to third on a balk and came around to score on an RBI groundout off the bat of Harford.
North Alabama tallied its first hit of the contest – a solo home run – with one away in the seventh. Stauffer came in and tallied the final out of the inning on five pitches.
Hussey took over in the eighth, registering three strikeouts before handing the ball over to Wohlbold for the ninth. The Skyhawks’ junior closer did not allow a baserunner, notching strikeouts on each of the last two batters of the contest.
MOREHEAD STATE 12, OHIO 9
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Freshman first baseman Jackson Feltner recorded four hits, senior designated hitter Arthur Sells notched four RBI and senior third baseman Stephen Hill scored four runs as the Morehead State baseball team won its third straight game Tuesday night, coming out on top 12-9 in a slugfest over Ohio at Allen Field.
Sells opened the Eagle run-fest with a two-run double in the first and closed the night with a sacrifice fly in the eighth. In between, Feltner had a pair of RBI singles, and senior second baseman Bryce Hensor cranked his first home run of the year, a two-run shot.
Also for the third straight game, the Eagles recorded an inning with at least five or more runs. MSU busted open tonight's game with a seven-spot in the fifth frame, sending 12 men to the plate, and taking a 10-6 lead it never relinquished.
Seven Eagle pitcher combined to strike out 11 Bobcats batters, marking the fifth game in the last six with double-digit whiffs from the Eagle pitchers.
Sells' two-run double in the first got the scoring started. Feltner added an RBI single. Ohio pushed ahead 5-3 in the second as leadoff hitter Ivan Peterson ripped a one-out grand slam off starter Will Lozinak
The fifth inning outburst started with Hensor's third career long ball, a towering shot over the high center field wall. Sells followed with an RBI single that scored junior third baseman Stephen Hill.
After Ohio garnered a run back in the sixth to make it 10-7, Feltner sliced a run-scoring single in the bottom of the frame.
Relief man John Sherman allowed an RBI single in the top of the seventh as Ohio crept to within 11-9, but he got two straight strike outs to end the threat.
Freshman right-hander Grant Herron entered in the ninth and got three straight outs for his second career save.