FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 4-10, Eastern Illinois 2-0
@Tennessee Tech 12-13, SIUE 7-12
@Southeast Missouri 3-2, UT Martin 2-9
Austin Peay 9-3, @Murray State 3-8
@Belmont 4, Morehead State 3
North Dakota State 8,
@Eastern Kentucky 1
JACKSONVILLE STATE 4-10, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2-0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State wrapped up the 2021 regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Illinois to remain alive for the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament next week.
The Gamecocks rallied from a 2-0 deficit to down the Panthers, 4-2, on junior Alex Strachan's three-run home run in the fifth inning. Jax State offense put together a 15-hit outing in the second game to rout EIU, 10-0, in eight innings. After EIU score two runs in the first three innings of Friday's twinbill on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium, the JSU pitching staff shutout EIU over the final 14 innings of the day.
In the opener, EIU was staked to a 2-0 lead through its first three plate appearances. JSU put its first run on the scoreboard in the third with an Alex Carignan walk with the bases loaded.
Senior Kyle Luigs started the middle game of an OVC series for third consecutive series. Luigs struggled through 3.1 but only allowed the two runs in the first three innings. Freshman Camden Lovrich tossed 1.2 innings to keep it a one-run contest.
JSU put together a two-out run-scoring situation that was sparked by a single by senior Alex Webb, followed by a base hit by Carignan. Strachan delivered the big hit with a three-run blast over the left field fence.
With a two-run lead, JSU welcomed back Christian Edwards, who had not seen action on the mound since May 1. Edwards dominated the Panthers over the final four innings. He did not issue a hit and posted a pair of strikeouts in his 13 batters faced. Lovrich picked up his second win of the season, while Edwards posted his first save of the 2021 season and 10th save of his career.
Nash Adams, Carignan and Strachan all had multiple hits in the opener.
In the nightcap, junior Colin Casey followed Edwards' lead on the mound with six complete innings of scoreless baseball and pitched with an early 5-0 lead through three innings. Casey limited EIU to a pair of hits and tallied five strikeouts.
Junior Isaac Alexander had the first of his three RBI in the game with ground out RBI, followed by an RBI bunt from Tanner Anderson. JSU added a third run on an errant pick off throw at third base.
Webb pushed the fourth run of the game across the dish on a ground out. Sophomore Carson Crowe, who led JSU with a 4-for-4 game and reached base all five times at the plate, turned in an RBI single. Crowe finished with three singles and a leadoff triple in the seventh and scored on Alexander's ground out. Junior Cole Frederick capped off his day with an RBI double in the seventh.
In the JSU eighth, freshman Derrick Jackson, Jr. lifted a sacrifice fly RBI, followed by Alexander's final RBI on a double.
Frederick finished the weekend 7-for-13, including a double and scored four runs. Webb led the club with four RBI in the three games. JSU's pitching staff turned in a 2.42 earned run average against EIU.
TENNESSEE TECH 12-13, SIUE 7-12
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - For all the challenges and obstacles presented throughout the past two seasons, it seemed only fitting that the 2021 campaign would provide a Hollywood-type ending for the Tennessee Tech baseball team.
The Golden Eagles (22-25, 15-15) earned just that kind of finish to the first full year with head coach Steve Smith at the helm of the program. The Tech skipper pushed all the right buttons throughout the weekend and team responded time and again.
It all culminated in one of the most entertaining and thrilling finishes to a contest at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex in recent memory, with the purple and gold scoring five times in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn a 13-12, walk-off victory and 3-0 Ohio Valley Conference series sweep of SIUE (23-27, 13-17).
Tech took care of business in the first contest, winning the series with a 12-7 decision over the Cougars. The team then showed the type of resilience that has slowly come to define the Golden Eagles under the direction of Smith. With numerous storylines through the day, particularly in the second game alone, it was the comeback that shined brightest.
For the third time in the series, the Cougars scored in the first inning, plating a pair for the early 2-0 lead. Also for the third time in as many games, Tech had a bigger and better response.
Second baseman Brett Roberts kick-started the scoring effort for his squad with an RBI single through the right side. Next up, first baseman Golston Gillespie continued his strong weekend with a two-run blast to center field. His 12th home run of the year made it a 3-2 Tech lead.
That was quickly increased to 7-2 in favor of the home squad, with Gillespie back at it again in the third. The redshirt sophomore crushed his second round-tripper of the contest (and 13th of the year) to right-center field, a three-run shot that provided some historical implications. It marked the slugger's fourth contest with multiple long balls this year, a new single-season record for the Tech ball club.
Two batters later, senior Cody Littlejohn added to one of the best weeks at the dish in his career, smashing a solo jack to right-center field for his 12th dinger on the season. Little did the home crowd know, he was just getting started.
After SIUE collected its second dinger of the game in the fifth, Littlejohn went right back to work in the bottom half. The left fielder uncorked a swing for an oppo taco, a solo shot to left-center field for his second trip around the bases in the contest. With his 13th tank on the year, Littlejohn and Gillespie became the first Tech teammates to each hit multiple home runs in a single game since Trevor Putzig and Kevin Strohschein each hammered three in a 30-17 win over Illinois State on Feb. 24, 2018. Tech hit a program-record 11 bombs in that contest.
The Cougars turned a corner, flipping the script on the purple and gold with a solo run in the sixth, three in the seventh, four more in the eighth and one for good measure in the ninth. SIUE smacked four long balls of its own over the span, taking a 12-8 lead that seemed good enough to avoid the sweep.
The lesson of the night, provided by the Tech bats, was clearly to never count out a Steve Smith-coached team. Right out of the gate in the ninth, the grind was on. Gillespie worked a four-pitch walk to lead things off and junior Jason Hinchman matched the effort to put a pair on with nobody out.
Littlejohn took his turn at the dish and carved his names deeper into the Golden Eagle record books. Having already become the 22nd player in school history to hit at least 20 home runs in their career, the Decatur, Ala. native joined an even more elite list.
On a 1-1 offering, the veteran crushed a three-run smash to left-center field, easily clearing the fence for his third round-tripper of the game and cutting the deficit to just a single run with no outs. Littlejohn's 14th jack of the season made him just the 10th Golden Eagle ever to hit three home runs in a single game, tying the program mark. Having tripled earlier in the contest as well, he also tied the school's single-game record for total bases, compiling 15 to match Putzig's effort in the Illinois State game in 2018.
With the inning far from over, third baseman Gabe Lacy kept the wheels in motion by squeezing a double down the left-field line. After a strikeout finally provided SIUE with some momentum, Smith went to the bench, pinch-hitting for senior hurler Alex Hursey, who had gathered the final two outs of the top half of the ninth.
Sophomore John Dyer took over for the Tech southpaw, producing a well-earned walk on six pitches. Center fielder Tynan Shahidi tied the game, grounding out softly to first base to avoid a double play and put his team just a base hit from fate.
Four-for-four coming into the final at-bat of the night, shortstop Ed Johnson fell behind 0-2 before a wild pitch allowed the winning run to reach third and provide a blip of life in Tech's chances at finishing the comeback. The sophomore delivered, making it a perfect 5-for-5 night by ripping a seeing-eye single to third base for the game-winning RBI and walk-off win.
Hursey earned his second win of the year behind the madness, capping a career highlighted by one of the most clutch pitching performances in program history. Never forgotten, the senior turned in a complete-game, 2-1 victory in Tech's elimination win over Missouri State on its way to the NCAA Oxford Regional title in 2018.
In the season's final contest, both Littlejohn and Gillespie drove in five runs each. Johnson and Roberts each scored a pair of runs while Gillespie and Littlejohn produced three each.
Not to be forgotten, it was a nice victory in the first contest of the day for the Golden Eagles as well, a 12-7 decision that saw a healthy attack from the Tech bats. After SIUE took a 1-0 lead in the first, Tech turned it into a 3-1 game in its favor.
Hinchman tied the game with an RBI single down the third-base line. Catcher Will Long then delivered a timely, two-run single up the middle. The Cougars squared things at 3-3 in the second, but the Golden Eagles were quick to remedy that situation.
It was Hinchman again starting the scoring, clobbering a two-run moon shot to right-center field for a 5-3 lead. It marked his 11th of the year and 44th of his career. Senior Gavin Johns turned it into a 7-3 advantage for the purple and gold, hammering his own two-run bomb to left-center field later in the frame.
Tech kept the momentum rolling in the fourth, scoring five more times to all but put the game out of reach. As if it was foreshadowing his historic performance in game two, Littlejohn ripped a two-run double to right-center field to kick off the scoring run.
Johns fired a single up the middle to drive in his fellow senior for a 10-3 lead, setting up Lacy for another set of fireworks. The sophomore made his chance count, smashing a two-run jack to left-center field for the 12-2 advantage.
The Cougars plated four runs down the stretch, but relievers Brock Myers and Grant Phillips combined to finish the final seven-and-one-third frames with relative ease. Myers earned his fourth win of the year while scattering four hits, two runs and walk with four punch outs.
Phillips, yet another Tech senior making a huge impact on Senior Weekend, picked up his third save of the year. The right-hander tossed three-and-a-third frames with just two earned runs allowed.
Gillespie and Hinchman each scored three times in the game, with Hinchman gathering three hits and three RBI. Littlejohn drove in a pair with two runs and two hits while Johns collected three RBI and two runs on two hits. Lacy, Johnson and Gillespie all produced multi-hit efforts as well.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3-2, UT MARTIN 2-9
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (27-19, 17-10) won the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title when it split a doubleheader with UT Martin (19-29, 10-17) Friday. The Redhawks took game one, 3-2, before dropping the nightcap, 9-2.
SEMO officially clinched the crown and secured the top seed in next week's OVC Tournament. The OVC title is the first for fifth-year head coach Andy Sawyers. It is also the Redhawks fifth in program history and first since SEMO won three-straight regular-season championships from 2014-16.
The Redhawks, Murray State and Austin Peay will head to the 2021 OVC Tournament. The final spot of the tournament is still up for grabs. This year's event will be held at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee (May 27-29). SEMO will open postseason play at 2 p.m., CT on Thursday, May 27.
SEMO claimed its 11th series victory this year. The series win marked the Redhawks eighth against the nine league opponents they faced, as well.
The Redhawks jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jevon Mason walked and quickly scored on a double by Tyler Wilber giving SEMO a 1-0 edge.
The Skyhawks tied the game two innings later when Blake Davis led off with a single to right, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a one-out single by Jack Culumovic.
Danny Wright regained the lead for SEMO with a towering solo home run over the right field wall in the bottom of the fourth. Wright's home run marked his third of the season and put the Redhawks ahead, 2-1.
SEMO added another run in the sixth inning that proved to be big in the end.
Andrew Keck delivered a one-out single to center and stole second to get into scoring position. Lincoln Andrews finished off a long at-bat with a huge two-out single to score Keck stretching the Redhawks lead to 3-1.
After UTM pulled to within a run on a solo home run by Jack Culumovic in the top of the eighth, the Skyhawks made things interesting late.
With runners at first and second and two outs in the eighth, Austin Williams got Christian Hall to line out to right field. In the ninth, the Skyhawks again had two runners on with two outs before freshman Kyle Miller came on and forced Culumovic to ground out to second ending the game.
UTM stranded six baserunners, including three in scoring position over its last four innings.
Bryce Grossius (4-2) had another strong outing allowing just one run on six hits in 5.2 innings. Grossius also recorded a career-high seven strikeouts and did not allow a walk.
Winston Cannon (6-6) suffered the loss. Cannon gave up three runs and six hits, struck out 11 and walked two in 5.2 frames.
SEMO posted eight hits with Mason and Andrews leading the way with two apiece. Mason, Wright and Keck scored one run each.
In game two, UTM trailed, 2-0, before scoring nine unanswered runs to get by the Redhawks.
SEMO plated both of its runs in the bottom of the third inning for its only lead of the contest. Danny Sperling was hit by a pitch and later scored on a single by Mason. Connor Basler, who reached on a bunt single touched home on a sacrifice fly by Wilber to give the Redhawks a 2-0 advantage.
After tying things up in the sixth, the Skyhawks scored four more runs in the seventh and another three in the eighth.
A three-run home run by Blake Daniels keyed the UTM seventh. Three hit batsmen, two balks and a single led to the Skyhawks scoring their final runs in the eighth.
Sam Folks (3-6) earned his third win of the season. Folks struck out eight, walked one and allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings.
Noah Niznik (2-6) took the loss in relief. Niznik relieved starter Hunter Ralls, who tossed five scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts.
Mason went 2-for-4 with one RBI and Wilber, Andrews and Basler added one hit apiece.
AUSTIN PEAY 9-3, MURRAY STATE 3-8
MURRAY, Ky. - Catcher Jack Alexander hit two home runs and drove in four runs, helping Austin Peay State University's baseball team clinch its spot in next weekend's Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship tournament with a 9-3 victory in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader against Murray State at Johnny Reagan Field. Murray State rallied to win the nightcap, 8-3, to secure a split of the twin bill and clinch the tournament's No. 2 seed.
The Govs secured their tournament berth with a five-run rally in the fifth inning. With Murray State leading 3-2 after four innings, Racers starter Sam Gardner opened the inning with a ground out. But Govs third baseman Gino Avros tied the game by hitting a 1-1 pitch to left center field, tying the game at 3-3.
Second baseman Malcolm Tipler would follow the home run with a double to center field and center fielder Garrett Spain walked. After Gardner got the second out he walked designated hitter John McDonald, loading the bases, and then walked Alexander to push in another run. Left fielder TJ Foreman then laced a line drive just inside the right field line for a bases-clearing triple to give the Govs a 7-3 lead.
Spain would add a run in the sixth with a run-scoring single and Alexander’s second home run of the day provided the game’s final run in the 9-3 victory.
Alexander went 2-for-3 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs scored to pace the Govs. Foreman added a 2-for-5, three RBI performance.
The rally also helped Govs starter Sebastian Martinez (4-6) notch the win with six innings of work. He allowed three runs on five hits and four walks, striking out three batters.
Racers first baseman Trey Woosley’s two-run home run in the fourth inning was hit lone hit in a 1-for-2, two RBI outing. Murray State saw their seven hits scattered with no batter recording a multi-hit outing. Gardner (5-6) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits and six walks over 4.2 innings.
Murray State (30-23, 18-12) rallied to win the nightcap, scoring in four consecutive innings to build a 7-2 lead. The Racers built their lead with seven different one-run plays, only catcher Tanner Booth finishing the day with multiple RBI. He provided the Racers first run with a RBI single in the second and added a RBI single in the fifth.
Austin Peay loaded the bases in the fifth and ninth innings but went 0-for-4 with two walks. In the fifth, Pinch hitter Ty DeLancey singled to load the bases with one out but the Govs followed with an infield fly, a Tipler walk and a ground out to score only one run. In the ninth, Avros loaded the bases when a pitch hit him with one out. Second baseman Knaje Guthrie earned a bases-loaded walk to add a run before a strikeout and ground out ended the game.
Govs starter Drew McIllwain (1-3) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits over four innings. The Govs were held to seven hits with no batter recording a multi-hit outing.
Booth went 2-for-4 with two RBI and center fielder Seth Gardner went 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead Murray State’s offense. Starter Quinton Kujawa (3-0) picked up the win after holding the Govs to two runs on two hits over 4.1 innings.
BELMONT 4, MOREHEAD STATE 3
NASHVILLE - Thanks to junior Jackson Campbell's game-winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Belmont University baseball team took game one of its series with Morehead State 4-3 on Friday at Rose Park by way of a walk-off.
The Bruins, who collected five walk-off wins in the shortened 2020 season, came up with their first walk-off win of the season. Sophomore Joshua South struck out five batters in 7.1 innings pitched while junior Kyle Brennan picked up his fourth win of the season, not allowing a hit in the final 1.2 innings.
A walk and a Belmont fielding error in the top of the third inning allowed two Morehead State runners to advance to the corners, with a sacrifice fly later in the inning breaking the scoreless tie that gave the Eagles the early 1-0 advantage. Morehead State followed that up with a leadoff single in the top of the fourth inning, extending its lead to three runs off a two-run home run.
Belmont managed to get two runners on base in the next half-inning, responding with their first run of the game thanks to an RBI double from freshman Jack Rando. Following a strikeout, Belmont cut Morehead State's deficit to one run after Morehead State was called for a balk.
After three consecutive shutout innings, a double by sophomore John Behrends put the tying run in scoring position for Belmont in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior Logan Jarvis answered the bell in the next at-bat, hitting an RBI single to right field to make it a 3-3 game.
Rando drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth inning that put the go-ahead run on first base, where freshman Austin Ehren hit a bunt single in the next at-bat that moved Rando into scoring position. A pair of stolen bases allowed Rando and Ehren to move up a base with one out, where Campbell drove in Rando from third base that allowed the Bruins to take the game one win.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 8, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University starter Darren Williams struck out a career-best 11 but the Colonels fell to North Dakota State University 8-1 on Friday at Earle Combs Stadium.
Williams allowed two runs on three hits in the first inning and then shut out the Bison and allowed only three more hits over the next six innings. He finished the night with two runs, six hits and no walks allowed over seven innings.
Bennett Hostetler and Charley Hesse staked North Dakota State to the 2-0 lead with a pair of RBI singles in the first. The Colonels (21-31) got on the board in the bottom of the second when Caleb Upshaw led off the inning with his 11th home run of the season.
NDSU starter Evan Sankey (7-1) allowed one run on three hits, did not walk anyone and struck out four in five innings.
The Bison (37-16) added two in the eighth on Tucker Rohde’s double down the right field line. North Dakota State got a three-run home run from Hostetler as part of a four-run ninth inning. Hostetler went 2-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs.
Upshaw had two of EKU’s four hits, going 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
In his last eight starts, Williams has a 2.18 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP and 62 strike outs in 56 innings. He’s compiled six quality starts over that span.