FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 7-11, Eastern Illinois 4-9
Austin Peay 8, @UT Martin 1
@Eastern Kentucky 1, Jacksonville State 0
@Southeast Missouri 7, Tennessee Tech 3
SIUE 13, @Western Michigan 4
MOREHEAD STATE 7-11, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4-9
MOREHEAD, Ky. - A one-out, pinch-hit walk-off grand slam by senior Jon Burghardt won game two today for Morehead State baseball, while a seven-run outburst in the seventh inning of game won led to a victory there as the Eagles guaranteed their fourth straight Ohio Valley Conference series win with 7-4 and 11-9 victories over visiting Eastern Illinois at Allen Field Friday.
The Eagles improved to an OVC-leading 8-3 in league games and to 17-12 overall. EIU slipped to 17-16 and 7-10 in the conference.
Burghardt, who also hit a grand slam at Austin Peay last weekend, entered the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth frame of the nightcap after three straight singles off EIU reliever Ryan Ignaffo and promptly crushed his first offering high over the right-field net for the walk off heroics.
The Eagles scored seven runs in the seventh frame of the opener thanks to a three-run homer by freshman shortstop Colton Becker and a two-run long ball from freshman first baseman Jackson Feltner.
While the Panthers still hold a commanding 52-18 lead in the series, the wins propelled the MSU program to its third consecutive series win over the Panther program since 2018.
A home run by EIU first baseman Christian Pena in the second and an RBI single by the same player in the fifth had the Panthers on top 4-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Freshman left-fielder Jacob Ferry led off the seventh with a single and moved to second when sophomore DH Alex Jacobs was plunked with a pitch by starter Cameron Doherty. Becker smashed his first career home run on a line drive over the right-field wall to make it a 4-3 Eagle deficit.
EIU went to the bullpen and its closer Alex Stevenson, but senior second baseman Bryce Hensor greeted him with a double and freshman center-fielder Ryley Preece singled. Senior catcher Jack Gardner gave the Eagles a 5-4 lead on a long double to left center.
Feltner then tattooed his fifth career homer to deep left field for the final 7-4-margin.
Junior reliever John Bakke coaxed an incredible 3-6-1 double play to end an EIU threat in the eighth and got a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to close out his fifth save of the season.
In game two, MSU staked itself to a 3-0 lead right off the bat in the first inning. Gardner notched a two-run single and Ferry had a sac fly to shallow left when senior third baseman Stephen Hil raced home to beat a close throw to the plate.
Ignaffo, who started the game in right field and finished on the mound, homered in the second to make it 3-2. Hill pushed the MSU lead to 5-2 with a two-run single in the second inning.
It was 6-2 in the third when Feltner scored after a misplay on a ball at first base off the bat of Jacobs. EIU battled back to tie the game 6-6 in the sixth, but senior right-fielder Ryan Layne put his team back on top in the bottom of the frame with his third round-tripper of 2021, a solo shot to right field.
The Panthers eventually took a 9-7 lead in the seventh when Trey Sweeney lined a two-run single to left field.
The host squad actually loaded the bases in the eighth inning too off Ignaffo but he got out of the jam with two pop outs.
Feltner struck out to start the bottom of the ninth, but Ferry, Jacobs and Layne all singled to lead the sacks for the Burghardt blast.
AUSTIN PEAY 8, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - Starting pitcher Luke Brown tossed the first complete game in more than two years, leading Austin Peay State University’s baseball team to an 8-1 Ohio Valley Conference victory against UT Martin, Friday night at Skyhawk Baseball Field.
Brown (3-0) became the first Governors pitcher to post a complete game victory since Jacques Pucheu on April 12, 2019 against Morehead State. Brown faced just 32 batters – five over the minimum – and scattered five hits while walking none and striking out four.
Austin Peay (11-20, 8-8 OVC) provided all the run support Brown would need with three runs in the top of the first inning. Right fielder Bobby Head reached on an error that extended the inning and allowed center fielder Garret Spain to score. After a hit batsman, catcher Jack Alexander extended the lead with a two-run double.
UT Martin (11-18, 4-6 OVC) would get their lone run in the second inning when right fielder Wil Lafollette homered on the first pitch of the frame. However, the Skyhawks could not solve Brown the rest of the way, getting no more than one runner on base in any inning after the second.
The Governors broke the game open in the seventh, tagging the UTM bullpen for four runs. The first four batters of the inning reached base safely, Spain’s RBI single ending the string and chasing the first Skyhawks reliever. Head, designated hitter Ty DeLancey and first baseman John McDonald each provided RBIs as the Govs lead hit 7-1. An UTM error in the ninth permitted a run that set the final score.
Nine Austin Peay hitters recorded a base hit, McDonald going 3-for-5 to lead the effort at the plate. Spain and Alexander each went 2-for-5, Alexander finishing with two RBI.
Cannon (4-4) suffered the loss after allowing three unearned runs over his six-inning outing. He struck out eight of the 26 batters he faced, allowing six hits and walking none. At the plate, five UTM hitters recorded a hit apiece.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 1, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - With two outs and runners at the corners, Eastern Kentucky University freshman Santiago Peralta punched the ball through the left side for a walk-off 1-0 win over Jacksonville State University on Friday at Earle Combs Stadium.
After a pair of ground outs to start the bottom of the ninth, Caleb Upshaw kept the inning alive with a walk. Charlie Ludwick followed with a single to left center and Upshaw advanced to third. With a 1-1 count, Peralta singled to score Upshaw and win the game.
EKU starter Darren Williams pitched eight scoreless innings. He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out a career-high nine batters.
Jacksonville State got two runners on with two outs in the top of the ninth. Eastern closer Will Brian came on and got a strike out to end the threat.
JSU starter Christian Edwards allowed three hits in eight scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out 10.
Five different hitters had one hit each for the Colonels (11-21, 6-10 OVC). Zeth Malcom was 2-for-4 for the Gamecocks (16-16, 7-6 OVC).
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 7, TENNESSEE TECH 3
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Left-hander Dylan Dodd struck out eight in another strong outing and Tyler Wilber and Andrew Keck each added two hits to lead Southeast Missouri (17-14, 10-6) to its 10th Ohio Valley Conference win of the season, a 7-3 victory over Tennessee Tech (11-15, 5-8) Friday.
Dodd (4-1), who retired TTU in order in the first and third innings, allowed just two runs in 6.2 innings of work. He finished with at least eight strikeouts for the eighth time in nine starts this season.
SEMO gave Dodd a three-run lead to work with in the bottom of the second inning.
Down, 1-0, with the bases loaded and two outs, Wilber smacked a bases clearing double to right center to give the Redhawks their first lead of the night.
Three innings later, SEMO tacked on four more runs.
Wilber led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left field, went to second on a base hit by Keck and scored on a double by Wade Stauss. Keck touched home on a sacrifice fly by Lincoln Andrews. Peyton Leeper and Austin Blazevic followed with back-to-back RBI-doubles to stretch the Redhawks lead to 7-2.
TTU scored once more in the eighth, but that was as close as it would get.
SEMO, which has won five of its last six games, posted eight hits.
Wilber and Keck accounted for half of those tallies and scored one run apiece. Wilber and Keck kept their hitting streaks intact at nine and eight games, respectively.
Leeper, Blazevic and Basler combined for three more hits and three runs in the bottom three spots of the lineup.
Freshman Kyle Miller again gave SEMO quality work out of the bullpen. Miller struck out three, walked none and allowed one run in the final 2.1 innings.
Jackson Berry (2-2) suffered the loss. Berry scattered five hits and allowed six runs to go along with four strikeouts and four walks in four innings.
SIUE 13, WESTERN MICHIGAN 4
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - SIUE baseball scored 12 runs over the middle three innings to rout Western Michigan 13-4 in the opener of a four-game nonconference series Friday.
The Cougars have won four of their last five games and improved to 16-13 overall. Western Michigan dropped to 10-13.
Trailing 2-0 after two innings, SIUE got to Western Michigan starter Brandon Petersen for seven runs on 10 over just four innings of work.
The Cougars took the lead in the third inning on four hits. Ethan Copeland led off the inning with a double and then scored on a two-out double by Connor Kiffer. Raul Elguezabal followed with a two-run home run to left to put SIUE up 3-2.
SIUE loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth on hits by Ole Arntson and John Stallcup and a walk to Brett Johnson. Richie Well hit a bases-clearing double to make it 6-2 before the Cougars added a run on a Western Michigan error.
Copeland added an RBI-hit and Kiffer and Well each drove home two with single in a five-run Cougar fifth inning to push the lead to 12-2.
Western Michigan scored single runs in the sixth and the seventh inning, before Brett Johnson capped the scoring for SIUE with his seventh home run of the year in the ninth inning.
Well led SIUE with five RBIs. He finished 2-5.
Kiffer was 4-5 with a double and four RBIs.
Elguezabal was 3-5 with the home run and a pair of RBIs. Arntson was 3-6 with a double and a run scored. Stallcup and Copeland each had two hits.
SIUE starter Noah Matheny (4-2) worked six innings allowing three runs. He struck out four and walked four. The Broncos loaded the bases with nobody out in the the sixth inning, before Matheny worked out of the inning, with a strikeout and two pop ups, while only allowing a single run. Tyler Bastunas worked the final three innings to pick up his second save of the year. He allowed a solo home run, but did not walk a batter and struck out three.