TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 13, Morehead State 4
Murray State 10, @Bellarmine 5
@#5 Tennessee 3,
Tennessee Tech 2
@Jacksonville State 6, Troy 1
@ #2 Vanderbilt 7,
Austin Peay 0
EASTERN KENTUCKY 13, MOREHEAD STATE 4
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team rolled past rival Morehead State, 13-4, on Tuesday in a midweek, non-conference game at Earle Combs Stadium.
EKU (13-22) took an early led when Kendal Ewell singled home Will King and then scored from first on a double by Daniel Harris IV in the bottom of the third.
Morehead State (18-14) tied it up with two in the fourth, but a sac fly by King in the home half of the inning put the Colonels back ahead.
The Eagles tacked on two more in the fifth to jump back ahead, 4-3; however, a three-run bottom of the inning gave the Colonels the lead for good. Harris IV started the rally with an RBI single to center that scored Cam Ridley. Caleb Upshaw then reached on an error. Harris IV advanced to second on the error, then stole third and went home on another error. Charles Ludwick capped the inning with an RBI base hit that plated Upshaw and made it 6-4.
Eastern added three more runs in the sixth inning to open up the lead. Logan Thomason started things off with an RBI double to left that scored Manny Jackson. Thomason went to third on a passed ball and scored on a sac fly to right by Ridley. Ewell added the exclamation point with a solo home run to left that made it 9-4.
King contributed a two-run double in the seventh to make it 11-4, and the Colonels tacked on another pair of runs in the eighth for good measure.
Harris IV finished the day 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Ewell was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while King went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run.
Seven Colonel pitchers combined for a solid day on the mound. Freshman right-hander Garret Simpson started and went 3.1 innings, allowing only one run. Freshman southpaw Jordan Fox (1-0) earned his first career win, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings.
MURRAY STATE 10, BELLARMINE 5
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After overcoming their largest deficit of the season in the Racers' very first meeting with Bellarmine two weeks ago, Murray State (18-16) defeated the Knights (10-22) in Louisville, Kentucky, 10-5.
Alex Crump led the way at the plate going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs while Jake Slunder, Brock Anderson and David Hudleson all added two hits apiece.
Murray State's got the scoring started in the second inning with an RBI single from Brennan McCullough.
In the third, Bellarmine took a 2-1 lead on a two-run home run but the Racers had the answer for the Knights in their next half inning, posting a five-run fourth.
Anderson led off with a solo shot to center. Then with two outs, Ryan Perkins lined a two-RBI double down the right field line and Hudleson followed with a RBI single. Slunder reached on an infield single and stole second, Hudleson came home on a throwing error by the catcher on the play to put the Racers up by four.
Bellarmine closed the gap to one at 6-5 with a run in the fifth and two in the seventh.
Alex Crump pushed the Racers lead to three with his third home run of the season, a two-run shot.
Seven straight Racers reached bases in the ninth to score two insurance runs and win 10-5.
Quinton Kujawa earned his first win of the season on the bump going 4.2 innings, allowing just three hits and two earned runs with a career-high five strikeouts.
Jake Jones went 1.2 innings and Connor Holden closed out the final 2.2 innings of the game to pick up his fourth save of the season.
#5 TENNESSEE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 2
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - It was a heartbreaker for the Tennessee Tech baseball team Tuesday night, as the Golden Eagles (12-17) dropped a 3-2 decision at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to No. 5 Tennessee (30-8) on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth.
What looked sure to be a high-scoring affair on tap for the night quickly shifted into a chess match between the two pitching staffs. The purple and gold jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, kick-started by the lead-off batter, shortstop Ed Johnson, reaching base after getting hit by a pitch.
Second baseman Brett Roberts followed with one of his game-high three hits – not a single other player for either side had more than one on the night – a single through the right side. Both runners advanced on a passed ball, setting up first baseman Golston Gillespie for an RBI ground out to his counterpart on the Vols' side of the diamond.
Tennessee answered in the bottom half of the inning, collecting an unearned run on an RBI single up the middle with two outs. From that point on, the pitching staffs took control of the game. A combined six pitchers – two for the Cubs and four for the Vols – traded zeroes on the scoreboard over the next four innings.
It was the home team that finally bucked the trend in the sixth, gathering another unearned run after a Tech error led to a Vol home run. It took a couple more chances, but the Golden Eagles knotted things up in the eighth with some timely offense.
Roberts upped his team-high batting average to .387 with another base hit, this one of the infield variety. He promptly stole second base and then swiped third on Tennessee's second strikeout of the inning, becoming the first Golden Eagle to rack up at least 15 steals in a season since Thomas Nelson ripped off 19 in 2008.
Left fielder Cody Littlejohn delivered the clutch hit of the ball game – one of Tech's four on the night – splitting the infield up the middle for an RBI single.
The Vols drew a leadoff walk to open the ninth, and swapped an out for a base runner with a sacrifice bunt followed by an intentional walk. Max Ferguson produced the game-winning blow, an RBI single to right field.
While Roberts led the offensive effort by the Golden Eagles, it was junior Brock Myers providing the dominant showing on the mound. The Goodlettsville, Tenn. native tossed five innings of relief, scattering two hits with six strikeouts and zero walks and allowing just a single, unearned run. After taking over in the third inning, he was lifted with two outs in the eighth.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 6, TROY 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State picked up its third consecutive midweek win after posting a 6-1 win over in-state rival Troy on Tuesday night at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.
The Troy contest began a busy week for the Gamecocks (18-17) as they will travel to Auburn on Wednesday for a rescheduled contest with the Tigers. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from Plainsman Park. The game will be streamed on the SEC Network+, the online platform of the SEC Network and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network. Following Wednesday's match up with Auburn, Jax State returns to Ohio Valley Conference play, hosting Morehead State in a key three-game series on its home turf beginning on Friday, April 23.
JSU jumped on the visitors from the wiregrass part of the state with a run in the first and a expanded the lead with five runs in four of the next seven plate appearances with the help of the extra base hit. The Gamecocks turned in 10 hits on the night with six of those being for extra bases. JSU's first run was the result of two doubles in the first by seniors Tre Kirklin and Jaylyn Williams. After leading 2-0, senior Alex Webb drilled an opposite field two-run double in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0. Sophomore Carson Crowe started the sixth with a solo home run over the right centerfield wall for his fourth home run on the season. Both of Crowe's hit were for extra bases as he added a double in the seventh inning. Junior Alex Strachan had an RBI single, while redshirt junior Alex Carignan added the sixth run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Redshirt junior Nash Adams had a two-hit night along with Williams, who had multiple hits in the win.
The four Gamecock pitchers limited the Trojans to eight hits and accumulating nine strikeouts and three free passes. Senior Kyle Luigs made his first start on the mound and tossed the first two frames, allowing one hit. Luigs improved to 2-1 on the season with the pitching be split up throughout the game. Redshirt junior Jackson Tavel went 2.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts, while freshman Jake Peppers had the longest stint on the mound with 2.2 innings of work. Peppers was impressive in the outing with five strikeouts in 11 batters faced. Freshman Camden Lovrich closed out the final two frames with three strikeouts.
#2 VANDERBILT 7, AUSTIN PEAY 0
NASHVILLE - A reprise of 2019 was not in store for Austin Peay State University’s baseball team as No. 2 Vanderbilt held it to three hits in a 7-0 decision, Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
Austin Peay (12-22), which stunned then No. 1 Vanderbilt in 2019, got off to a good start with third baseman Gino Avros posting a leadoff single. However, Vanderbilt starter Thomas Schultz (4-2) retired the next eight batters until surrendering a walk to Avros in the third inning.
Schultz would allow a single to right fielder Bobby Head in the fourth and walks in both the fifth and sixth, but did not allow a runner past second base in his outing. His six scoreless frames included four strikeouts while scattering two hits and three walks over 22 batters.
The Commodores offense got off to a hot start in the bottom of the first with four batters reaching base after an opening out. Second baseman Parker Noland provided a two-run double to open the scoring and right fielder Isaiah Thomas added a run on a ground out for a 3-0 lead.
Vanderbilt (29-6) would add a run in the third and three more in the sixth. Noland added his third RBI with a groundout in the third. The first three batters reached base in the sixth, each scoring to set the final score.
Austin Peay starter Drew McIllwain (0-2) allowed three runs on three hits and a walk in his inning of work.
Noland led Vanderbilt with a 1-for-3, three RBI outing. First baseman Dominic Keegan went 2-for-3 for the Commodores lone multi-hit outing.