SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 14, Eastern Illinois 4
Murray State 2, @Belmont 0
SIUE 8, @Western Michigan 1
MOREHEAD STATE 14, EASTERN ILLINOIS 4
MOREHEAD, Ky. - All 10 Morehead State hitters who appeared in Sunday's 14-4 victory over Eastern Illinois had at least one hit and scored at least once, including freshman first baseman Jackson Feltner who finished 4-of-5 with a career-high five RBI at Allen Field.
The Eagles, who recorded three wins over the Panthers in the same season for the first time in program history, improved to 18-13 overall. The game did not count, however, in the OVC standings. Feltner's two-run double in the bottom of the seventh ended the game early as the 10-run rule on the final day of a series was invoked.
Morehead State finished with a season-high 17 hits off five Panther pitchers.
Morehead State found itself leading 8-0 after its first two at-bats. Senior third baseman Stephen Hill opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first, followed by a two-run single from Feltner. Freshman shortstop Colton Becker opened the five-run barrage in the second with his second career home run, a line shot over the right field wall.
Senior right-fielder Ryan Layne closed the scoring in the second frame with his fourth long ball of 2021, a towering clout to right field to also score Feltner who had recorded an RBI double. Freshman left-fielder Jacob Ferry joined the home run parade in the fourth frame with a solo shot, his third career homer.
EIU scored all its runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Shortstop Trey Sweeney hit a two-run long ball in the seventh, his 11th of the season.
MSU finished with another five-run outburst in the seventh as Becker had a sac fly, senior Jack Gardner laced a two-run single and Feltner nailed his two-run double off the net down the right-field line.
Sophomore right-hander Matt Bettio was credited with the win in relief of starter Will Lozinak. He went 4.0 innings, his longest relief appearance, to improve to 2-2. Bettio struck out three EIU batters. Lozinak made his first start since March 16 and did not allow a run in the first 2.1 innings.
Feltner, the OVC's top hitter now at .416, increased his reached-base streak to 21 games and his hitting streak to 12 games. He has eight multi-hit efforts in the last 12 games.
MURRAY STATE 2, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE - Murray State graduate right hander Sam Gardner threw the first complete game of his collegiate career Sunday afternoon against Belmont at E.S. Rose Park.
It was the first nine-inning complete game since Trevor McMurray threw a complete game in a 7-3 win over Tennessee Tech on April 5, 2019 and the first nine-inning complete game shutout since Cameron Finch tossed the eighth no-hitter in Racer history against SIUE on March 22, 2013 in a 1-0 win.
The Racers gave Gardner two runs of support which proved to be more than enough in his 115-pitch shutout win. He scattered five hits over the nine innings and faced only 30 batters, three over the minimum 27.
Belmont (16-17, 9-9) went down in order in six of the nine innings as Gardner tied his career-high in strikeouts, nine, for the second time this season and allowed no free passes.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Racers (17-16, 8-7 OVC) collected seven hits in the game. David Hudleson was a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk and a RBI and Jake Slunder tallied his team-high 12th multi-hit game of the season with two hits in the game.
The game was deadlocked till the fifth when the Racers were finally able to push one across. MSU loaded the bases on three-straight singles and Jordan Cozart gave Murray State a one-run lead with an RBI fielder's choice, scoring Jacob Pennington from third.
The game stayed that way until the ninth when Hudleson delivered a two-out RBI single to give the Racers an insurance run.
With the win, Murray State avoided the sweep but fell to fourth in the OVC standings.
SIUE 8, WESTERN MICHIGAN 1
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - SIUE baseball finished off a nonconference series win with an 8-1 win Sunday over Western Michigan. The Cougars won three of four in the weekend set.
The Cougars improved to 18-14 with the win. The Broncos dropped to 11-15.
Western Michigan opened the scoring with a run and a hit off SIUE starter Brant Glidewell before Glidewell settled in.
The Cougars tied the game with a run on two hits in the second inning when Ethan Copeland drove home Avery Owusu-Asiedu with a single to left. Connor Kiffer and Raul Elguezabal picked up back-to-back one-out hits in the fifth inning and both advanced on a passed ball. Ole Arntson plated both with a single up the middle to put the Cougars up for good at 3-1.
Kiffer and the Cougars cashed in on a two-out walk in the sixth inning. After Richie Well Walked, Kiffer homered to left to push SIUE's lead to 5-1. SIUE then made it 8-1 in the seventh. Copeland and Well each picked up RBIs in the inning, which also included a passed ball to score a run.
Glidewell improved to 4-0, working a career-best seven innings while allowing just the single run on four hits. He struck out three.
Rob Parks worked two scoreless innings to finish out the game on the mound.
The Cougars did not commit an error and turned three double plays in the field.
Owusu-Asiedu, Elguezabal and Copeland each collected three hits. Copeland, Kiffer and Arntson each finished with two RBIs.
The Cougars return to Ohio Valley Conference play when they travel to Austin Peay for a three-game series beginning Friday.