FRIDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 7, @Morehead State 6
@Belmont 8, Austin Peay 4
Eastern Illinois 4, @UT Martin 3
@Southeast Missouri 2, SIUE 1
Bradley 8, @
Tennessee Tech 2
MURRAY STATE 7, MOREHEAD STATE 6
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Murray State (14-6) baseball took care of business over Morehead State 7-6 to open conference play at Sonny Allen Field in Morehead, Kentucky. The victory was the first road win of the season after falling to Alabama and Kentucky earlier in the season. The win makes the Racers 1-0 in OVC play this season with two more games with the Eagles scheduled for this weekend.
The Racers offense impressed from top to bottom with nine Murray State batters collecting a hit in the contest while combining for 13 total. Team captain Bryson Bloomer led the Racers with a pair of hits including a solo blast for his first home run of the season. The third baseman would also score two runs of his own. Jordan Holly continued to show his offensive firepower with two more hits on the day to raise his average to .364 on the season. Graduate catcher Alex Crump flashed two hits and two RBIs to go along with a walk in the game while also scoring a run of his own.
Redshirt junior Hayden Wynja picked up his second consecutive win while tossing five innings and striking out eight. The southpaw allowed just four hits and walked just one in his outing while improving his record to 2-1 on the year. Relief ace Jacob Pennington was the lone arm used out of the Racers bullpen. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee native went four innings while striking out six and allowing just two runs. In six appearances on the season, Pennington holds a 1.93 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched and has struck out 22 batters.
BELMONT 8, AUSTIN PEAY 4
NASHVILLE - Tommy Crider homered, Joshua South picked up his third win, and the Belmont University baseball team opened up conference play with an 8-4 victory over Austin Peay at E.S. Rose Park on Friday night.
Belmont (15-8) is now 13-5 at home this season.
The Bruins hit 6-for-12 (.500) with runners in scoring position, while the Governors went just 1-for-12 in the same category.
Guy Lipscomb went 3-for-3 with four runs scored and two stolen bases. Brodey Heaton finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and John Behrends also collected two hits, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Joshua South (W, 3-1) picked up his third win of the season with 5.2 strong innings on the mound, allowing a pair of home runs but collecting six strikeouts.
Will Jenkins (SV, 1) earned the first save of his career by recording the final four outs.
Austin Peay jumped ahead with a two-run homer off of South in the first inning.
However, Belmont responded by getting five straight hits in the bottom of the opening inning, first with an RBI single from Lipscomb that scored Carson Shacklett, then a double steal from Lipscomb and Jackson Campbell that scored the senior catcher, then two more RBI singles from Brodey Heaton and John Behrends.
When the dust cleared in the first frame, Belmont led 4-2. After the Governors got a solo home run in the third inning to cut the deficit to just one, Tommy Crider delivered a two-run blast to left field to make it 6-3 in favor of the home side.
The home run was the third of the season for Crider, and his first since his two-homer game against Evansville on March 9.
Logan Jarvis picked up two more RBIs on the night, first on a sacrifice fly that scored Lipscomb in the fifth, then on a single up the middle to drive in Lipscomb again, this time in the seventh.
Ethan Harden tossed two innings in relief, scattering three hits and one run to set the table for Jenkins' save.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 4, UT MARTIN 3
MARTING, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois (14-4, 1-0 OVC) pick up their first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season after they defeated UT Marin (7-12, 0-1 OVC) by a score of 4-3. Starting pitcher Trevor Nicholson threw 7.0 innings while giving up five hits, three runs, and had 14 strikeouts to lead EIU. It is the third time this season that Nicholson has add 10 plus strikeouts in a game. Zane Robbins also picked up his sixth save of the season after throwing three straight strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
After a scoreless first inning by the Panthers, UT Martin got on the board first with an RBI single by Ethan Whitley. Nicholson would pick up two strikeouts in the inning without giving up any more runs.
Both teams went scoreless in the second. Eastern Illinois got on the board in the third after Bryce Hayman picked up a double to leadoff the inning. Lincoln Riley had a sac bunt to the pitcher to move Hayman to third. DiLuca would follow that with a groundout to shortstop to score Hayman for Eastern's first run. Nicholson would add two more strikeouts in the bottom half.
The Panthers' bats stayed hot in the fourth inning. Ignoffo lead off the inning with a solo homerun to right field to give the Panthers their first lead of the afternoon. Ignoffo leads the team with six homeruns. Nathan Aide would single in his next at-bat and advance to second on a wild pitch. Worcester would then hit a single up the middle to score Aide from second. Worcester would steal second to put him in scoring position. Ben Gallaher would join the action with an RBI single through the right side to score Worcester and put EIU up 4-1.
Through innings five and six, Nicholson would keep the Skyhawks off the board while posting four more strikeouts in two innings.
UT Martin wouldn't go away in the seventh. After DiLuca was left on base after singling to continue his 15-game hitting streak, the Skyhawks would score two more in the seventh. Nicholson gave up a walk and a single to start the inning. Alec Beaman for UT Martin would double down the third base line to score one. After two Nicholson strikeouts, the Skyhawks would score one more on a wild pitch by Nicholson. He would stop the damage with his 14th and final strikeout of the afternoon.
Nichols would pitch the eighth inning for EIU and throwing three-up three-down with three straight strikeouts to set up Robbins in the ninth. Robbins struckout two swinging and one looking to give EIU their first OVC win of the season.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI, SIUE
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - - Southeast Missouri (15-5, 1-0) used one hit to beat SIU Edwardsville (10-9, 0-1), 2-1, in a thriller during Friday's Ohio Valley Conference opener at Capaha Field.
Nine-hole hitter Ben Palmer smacked a double off the left field wall with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning for SEMO's huge and only hit of the contest.
Right-handers Jason Rackers and Brant Glidewell engaged in an excellent pitcher's duel from the start.
Rackers began his fourth start of the season by retiring SIUE in order in the first and sitting down six of the first seven hitters he faced. He pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth and ended a threat in the third when the Cougars had a runner on third with two outs.
Meanwhile, Glidewell had a no-hitter through 4.2 innings until Palmer spoiled it in the fifth.
With two outs, Joel Vaske was hit by a pitch and Ty Stauss followed with a walk to give the Redhawks a pair of baserunners. On the next play, Palmer hit his second double of the season. Vaske and Stauss each scored to give the Redhawks a 2-0 advantage.
Rackers later gave way to reliever Kyle Miller with runners at first and second with no outs in the top of the seventh.
Miller threw out Avery Owusu-Asiedu on a fielder's choice at third for the first out. Richie Well's single then made it a one-run game before Miller recorded back-to-back strikeouts to close out the inning.
Miller proceeded to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth and pitched around a leadoff error in the ninth to pick up his team-high third save.
Rackers ran his record to 3-0 with his first career OVC victory. He matched his longest start of the season working six innings with six strikeouts. Rackers allowed just one run on five hits and walked one, as well. His six strikeouts matched a season-best.
Glidewell (2-1) suffered his first loss. He struck out five, walked two and gave up two runs in his eight-inning one-hitter. Glidewell threw 119 pitches.
SEMO improved to 19-12 all-time in OVC opening games. The Redhawks started league action with a win for the fourth time in five seasons.
BRADLEY 8, TENNESSEE TECH 2
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - An early pitcher's duel fell in favor of the visitors Friday evening, as Bradley defeated the Tennessee Tech baseball team, 8-2, at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
The Golden Eagles were quick to strike, using a sacrifice fly down the left-field line by first baseman Golston Gillespie to a 1-0 lead in the first. Tech collected two base hits in the frame, hinting at a strong night at the plate.
Both starting pitchers went head-on for the next four frames, trading zeros on the scoreboard. Tech's Peyton Calitri struck out five over the opening five innings, holding the Braves scoreless and with just three hits.
Bradley broke through in the sixth, loading the bases after Calitri secured strikeout number six on the night. Braves' third baseman Connor Manthey provided the big swing, smashing the first pitch he saw to left field for a grand slam to chase the Tech ace from the game and give his team the lead for good.
The visiting ace, Jacob Kisting, went on to toss two more innings without allowing another Tech run, totaling seven for the game while racking up nine punch-outs on just four hits. He held the Golden Eagles to just one hit after the second inning.
The Braves plated two more runs in the seventh, one in the eighth, and one more in the ninth for good measure. Golden Eagle hurler Jackson Berry turned in one inning of scoreless relief, earning one strikeout.
In the eighth, Tech left fielder Jason Hinchman attempted to give the home squad a jolt, blasting an 0-2 offering to right field for his eighth home run of the year. It marked the slugger's 52nd career round-tripper as well, moving him into sole possession of third place on the program's all-time list for long balls, breaking a tie with TTU Sports Hall of Famer A.J. Kirby-Jones.
The dinger also moved the senior into a tie for fourth on the Ohio Valley Conference's career chart, tying Eastern Kentucky's Lee Chapman and Clay Elswick.