WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 13, Bellarmine 7
Belmont 5, @Lipscomb 1
@North Alabama 7,
Austin Peay 5
MURRAY STATE 13, BELLARMINE 7
MURRAY, Ky. - The historic start for Murray State (8-0) baseball continues as the Racers defeated Bellarmine 13-7 on Wednesday at Johnny Reagan Field in Murray, Kentucky. The 2022 MSU team now holds the record for the best start in program history besting the previous record of 7-0 set in 1974 and 1975. Timely hitting and a strong bullpen were key in the Racers come from behind victory over the Knights.
Graduate outfielder Jake Slunder led the Racers offensively becoming just the 15th player in MSU history to hit two triples in the same game. Slunder finished the afternoon going 3 for 5 with two triples, an RBI, a run scored, and a walk on the day, the Cabot, Arkansas native is now batting .432 on the season with 11 RBIs and 12 runs scored.
Jordan Holly provided the clutch gene for the Racers on a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning to extend the Racers lead to six. Holly would finish the night 2 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Drew Vogel and Seth Gardner provided a double each and Brennan McCullough would provide a round-tripper out of the park to right-center field.
The MSU Bullpen played a pivotal role in the Racers win as Allen Roulette, Cade Killingsworth, and Jordyn Naranjo combined for 7.1 innings while allowing just two runs. Naranjo earned the win with three scoreless frames in the seventh through ninth to close out the victory.
BELMONT 5, LIPSCOMB 1
NASHVILLE - The Belmont University baseball team won their ninth game in a row on Wednesday night, taking down Lipscomb, 5-1, at Ken Dugan Field.
The nine-game win streak is the longest for the Bruins since the 2015 season, when a Matt Beaty-led team won nine in a row from March 8 to March 22.
At 9-1, Belmont is off to their best start since the 2010 season, when they won their first ten games.
The Bruins have now won ten of the last 12 Battle of the Boulevard matchups with their crosstown rival.
Brodey Heaton got the visitors on the board in the first inning with a mammoth solo home run that cleared the treeline in left-center field. The homer was Heaton's first of the season.
Belmont added to their lead in the second inning when, after loading the bases with a Carson Shacklett walk, a Jackson Campbell single, and a Grayson Taylor walk, Jack Capobianco stepped up and scored Shacklett with a fielder's choice grounder.
With runners on second and third, Guy Lipscomb then shot a ball to the right side of the infield for an RBI groundout, bringing Belmont's lead to 3-0.
In the top of the third frame, Logan Jarvis scored another Bruin run when he drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch before coming home on a Taylor double to left field.
Belmont rounded up their scoring with a laser of a home run from Taylor that cleared the left field wall with two outs in the sixth inning, Taylor's first home run since 2019.
Taylor finished his night 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, 2 RBIs, and two walks.
The Bruins used seven different pitchers on the night, with Jordan Zuger (W, 1-0), Lane Lamberth, Ethan Harden, Aaron Hubbell, Dusty Baird, Caleb Guisewite, and Kyle Brennan all combining to hold a powerful Lipscomb offense to just one run on six hits.
Lipscomb threatened in the ninth inning, loading the bases with one out, but Brennan was able to limit the damage to just one run, on a balk that broke up the shutout, before getting a strikeout to end the game.
With the collective performance on the mound and more solid defense on Wednesday, Belmont has now given up just seven runs in the last nine games.
The Bruins broke their streak of eight straight games without a fielding error, but tremendous glove-work was highlighted by the nabbing of three Bison runners on perfect throws from Campbell, and a few sharply hit grounders that were vacuumed up by Jarvis at third base.
Through nine games, Belmont has a team ERA of 1.00, good for 3rd in NCAA Division I.
Thanks to the home runs from Heaton and Taylor, Belmont had multiple blasts in a game for the first time this season.
NORTH ALABAMA 7, AUSTIN PEAY 5
FLORENCE, Ala. - Making its first trip to North Alabama since 1991, Austin Peay State University’s baseball team saw its four-game win streak end in a 7-5 loss, Wednesday, at Mike Lane Field.
Austin Peay (6-3) got on the board first with right fielder Harrison Brown, the hero in Tuesday’s win with a walk-off single, opened the scoring with a one-out solo home run in the first inning.
North Alabama (2-4) used extra-base hits in the third and fourth innings to take the lead. Center fielder Austin Thrasher delivered three runs with his bases-clearing, two-out double in the third inning, giving the hosts a 4-1 lead.
One inning later, Lions second baseman Drew Hudson lined a ball to center field where it eluded the Govs defense and rolled to the wall. Hudson rounded the bases for the two-run inside-the-park home run and a 6-2 lead.
Austin Peay threatened in the ninth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. After Jack Alexander singled and Gino Avros doubled, second baseman Jonah Beamon doubled into the right-field corner with two out, halving the deficit, 7-5. But Lions closer Austin Emener got a fly out to end the threat and the game.
Austin Loeb (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on three hits and five walks over the opening three innings.
Seven Govs posted a base hit each. Beamon’s ninth-inning double made him the lone player with a multi-RBI outing with third baseman Michael Robinson and designated hitter Matt Joslin joining Harrison Brown with an RBI.
Will Morris (1-0) won in his first start of 2022, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out four batters over five innings. Center fielder Austin Thrasher went 3-for-3 with three RBI to lead the Lions offense.
Austin Peay returns home – where it has won four straight – to face Kent State in a three-game series. The weekend set begins with a 3 p.m., Friday contest on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.