FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 14-4, UT Martin 0-1
@Murray State 12, SIUE 8
Southeast Missouri 5, @Belmont 4 (10)
Eastern Illinois 12, @Tennessee Tech 6
@Toledo 5,
Austin Peay 3
MOREHEAD STATE 14-4, UT MARTIN 0-1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State swept a doubleheader on Saturday to complete a three-game sweep of UT Martin
Grant Herron (W, 3-2) took the ball for the Eagles and delivered the best start of his college career, going 6.2 innings and striking out 11 Skyhawk batters, allowing only two hits in the shutout victory. Herron moved into the starting rotation this season, and has posted a career-high in innings pitched with 30.
Morehead State jumped on top early on, as Alex Jacobs laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Ryley Preece from third to make the score 1-0. Bryson Stripling smashed his first collegiate home run in the second inning, a two-run blast that gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
Jackson Feltner took the team-lead in home runs with a fifth inning, two-run moonshot to left field for his 11th trot around the bases this season, besting his 2021 total of 10 to make the score 5-0. Feltner has a hit in 14 straight, with 18 RBI in that time. With his four-hit performance, Feltner's batting average sits at .396 on the season, and has 40 RBI.
The Eagles blew the game open in the home seventh, as Alex Jacobs, Nick Gooden, and Isaias Guzman all drove in a run with RBI singles. Colton Becker dropped down a sacrifice bunt as well, as the four-spot made the score 9-0.
Five more runs came across in the eighth after Alex Jacobs (2-4, 3 RBI) and Nick Gooden (3-4, 3 RBI) drove in the first three, setting the stage for Colton Becker who smashed a two-run home run for his second of the season, making the score 14-0 Eagles.
John Sherman came on for Grant Herron in the top of the seventh and worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the shutout rolling, and repeated the feat in the eighth by stranding a runner on second base. He stayed on the mound for the ninth inning and retired the Skyhawks to seal the shutout. Friday marks the first time the Eagles have shutout an opponent since a 3-0 win over Jacksonville State in 2021.
In game two, John Bakke (W, 3-3) took the ball for his second start of the season, and was once again effective in the spot-starting role for the Eagles, throwing a complete game three-hitter. Bakke only allowed one run in the first inning, and shut down the UT Martin lineup, walking three and striking out six on his way to his third win of the season.
UT Martin took an early lead in the first on an RBI groundout by Casey Harford, but the Eagles tied the game up in the home half on an RBI single from Alex Jacobs. That base hit extended Jacobs' on-base streak to 40 games, putting him just 10 games away from former Eagle Reid Leonard's school record on-base streak of 50 games.
Both pitchers worked scoreless innings in the second, third, and fourth frames, but the Eagles jumped on top in the fifth, as Jackson Feltner singled and advanced to third on a base hit from Alex Jacobs before Roman Kuntz drove both men in with a hard-hit two RBI single off the right field wall to make the score 3-1. He leads the team in conference play batting average, at .447 now thanks to his four-hit day.
Another run crossed for the Eagles in the seventh thanks to great base running from Alex Jacobs, who beat out an infield single and stole second base before scoring on a single by Nick Gooden, who now holds a seven-game hit-streak.
Bakke got into some trouble in the eighth, but stranded runners at the corners before retiring the side in order in the ninth to complete the sweep for the Eagles. Morehead State moved to 19-23 overall and 8-7 in OVC play with the win, finishing off their first series sweep of the season.
MURRAY STATE 12, SIUE 8
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State (22-18) baseball won their fifth consecutive game on Friday night, defeating SIUE 12-8 in comeback fashion at Johnny Reagan Field in Murray, Kentucky. The win gives the Racers their seventh straight conference win, the longest conference winning streak in the OVC.
The Racers put together another double-digit scoring performance to go with 14 hits in the contest. MSU has now scored over 10 runs in four of the last five games and eight or more runs in each game in the five-game winning streak. Five different Murray State players collected a multi-hit game with outfielder Jake Slunder and designated hitter Jacob Pennington each posting three hit performances to lead the way. The MSU offense launched three more home runs in the game. Bryson Bloomer hit his 11th home run of the season while freshman Carson Garner blasted his third career home run in the eighth inning to give the Racers some big insurance runs. Catcher Alex Crump hit a triple and a home run in the game for his 11th and 12th extra-base hits on the year.
Shortstop Drew Vogel provided the go-ahead two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to give the Racers the late lead in the game.
Pennington also earned the win on the mound, going 6.0 innings pitched in relief while allowing just three earned runs. The redshirt sophomore improves to 3-0 on the year while on the mound and has collected 37 hits at the plate.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 5, BELMONT 4 (10)
NASHVILLE - Ben Palmer's solo home run in the top of the 10th inning lifted Southeast Missouri (29-11, 12-4) to a 5-4 win over Belmont (27-15, 9-4) Friday.
BEL snapped a scoreless game with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Bruins took a 4-0 advantage with the help of a wild pitch, a two-RBI double by Logan Jarvis and a run-scoring single by Jackson Campbell.
Andrew Keck hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth for SEMO's first run of the game.
Brett Graber homered to make it a one-run game in the fifth. SEMO then tied the contest in the top of the eighth inning when Tyler Wilber lined out to center and Jevon Mason scored to make it a 4-4 ballgame.
Austin Williams (6-1) picked up the win in relief. Williams struck out four in two scoreless, no-hit innings.
Starter Jason Rackers worked a season-long 7.1 innings. Rackers struck out five, walked one and gave up four runs on four hits.
Keck and Graber each had two hits and homered. SEMO outhit, BEL, 6-5.
Kyle Brennan (1-4) suffered the loss. Brennan struck out three, walked two and allowed one run on two hits in 2.1 innings.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 12, TENNESSEE TECH 6
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois (27-12, 8-5 OVC) take game one of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Tennessee Tech (21-18, 5-8 OVC) by a final score of 12-6. Chris Worcester and Dalton Doyle both post three hits in the win. Logan Eickhoff, Nicholas Rucker, and Doyle all hit home runs including two two-run blasts from Rucker and Doyle. Starting pitcher Trevor Nicholson went 3.0 innings while allowing six hits, two runs, and posted five strikeouts. Mac Hickman picks up the win for EIU to move him to 4-0 on the year. Hayden Birdsong also posted four strikeouts in three innings of work for the Panthers. Eastern now has their most wins in a season since the 2012 season.
Both teams held tough in the first inning on defense. In the top of the inning, the Panthers had two runners on with two hits from Lincoln Riley and Ryan Ignoffo, but the Golden Eagles got out of the inning with no damage. Tennessee Tech then loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but Nicholson got out of the inning with two strikeouts.
EIU got the scoring going in the top of the second with their first of two four run innings. After Rucker was hit-by-pitch and a walk by Grant Lashure, Doyle doubled down the line to score one. Riley followed that up with a single up the middle to score two. Eickhoff ended the inning with a single to score Lucas DiLuca to go up 4-0.
The Panthers scored another four runs in the third off of two two-run home runs by Rucker and Doyle. EIU scored four runs on three hits in the third. TTU got on the board off of Nicholson in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run by Jason Hinchman.
Eickhoff hit a solo home run to lead-off the fourth inning off of Matthew Meadows. In the bottom of the fourth with bases loaded, Mac Hickman entered the game on the mound for the Panthers. After a double play and a intentional walk, Golston Gillespie brought home a run with an RBI walk. Hickman would get a strikeout to end the inning.
Tennessee Tech would add another run in the fifth inning after Ed Johnson grounded out to third base to bring home John Dyer. EIU would hold their lead at 9-3 heading into the sixth.
Eickhoff and Nathan Aide would be the runners on the corners in the sixth for EIU when Worcester hit a single to center field to score another run and extend their lead. Hayden Birdsong would enter the game in the sixth and strikeout three straight Golden Eagles to end the inning.
The Panthers added two more runs in the seventh inning. Eickhoff stepped up the bat with the bases loaded and hit into a fielder's choice to score Lashure. Doyle would then score on the fielder's choice off an error by the second baseman to put EIU up 12-3. Dyer would hit a lead-off homerun in the seventh to cut the lead to 12-4.
EIU would have the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, but the TTU defense held tough to put a zero on the board. Birdsong finished the eighth with three straight fly outs to keep the Panthers up eight.
Jason DeCicco entered the game in the ninth for the Panthers on the mound. Tennessee Tech would start the inning with a two-run home run off of DeCicco by Luke Jones. EIU ended the game without any more runs.
TOLEDO 5, AUSTIN PEAY 3
TOLEDO, Ohio - Austin Peay State University starting pitcher Tyler Delong supplied a quality start but host Toledo scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to hand the Governors a 5-3 loss in the opening game of a three-game nonconference series, Friday afternoon at Scott Park.
Delong limited Toledo to two runs on four hits over the opening six innings. The Rockets only two runs against the Govs starter came in the third inning when the first two batters reached on singles. Toledo used a double by shortstop Jeron Williams and a sacrifice fly by Scott Mackiewicz to get those runners home for a 2-1 lead.
Austin Peay (16-27) tied the game in the fifth when second baseman TJ Rogers doubled to star the inning. The Govs loaded the bases with left fielder Gino Avros’ walk and center fielder TJ Foreman’s single, ending Toledo starting pitcher Kyle Jones’ outing. First baseman Ty DeLancey would earn a sacrifice fly against reliever Cal McAnnich, leveling the score at 2-2. However, the Govs could not produce the go-ahead run as McAnnich got a line out and fly out to end the threat.
Toledo (23-17) would get two men aboard with a double and a walk in the sixth, but Delong got a key line drive out to end the inning and his outing. The Rockets would threaten again in the seventh against Govs reliever Luke Brown, but left a runner in scoring position.
In the eighth, Brown got a strikeout to begin the inning but Toledo battled back with three consecutive singles to break the tie. First baseman Mason Sykes singled to right field and third baseman Darryn Davis singled through the right side to put two aboard with one out.
Left fielder Caden Konczak lined a pitch up the middle with Brown reacting enough to deflect the ball with his glove. Govs third baseman Michael Robinson picked up the loose ball turned and fired home in one motion but his throw was wide of the mark, allowing a run to score for a 3-2 Toledo lead while both runners advanced a base. Catcher Trey Wright followed with a double off the new Govs pitcher, driving in two more runs for a 5-2 lead.
Austin Peay got the ninth inning started with Rogers leadoff walk and he scored two batters later on TJ Foreman’s single, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Catcher Jack Alexander then singled with two out to extend the inning but Toledo reliever Patrick Dillon got a strikeout to end the game.
Luke Brown (3-6) took the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits in 1.1 innings of reliever. Delong was left with no decision after limiting Toledo to two runs on four hits and four walks while striking out four over six innings.
McAnnich (2-2) earned the win for Toledo with four innings of scoreless relief. Dillon notched his first save with a scoreless ninth.
Foreman went 2-for-4 and Alexander was 2-for-5 to lead the Govs seven-hit attack. Foreman, DeLancey, and Alexander also had a RBI each while batting 2-3-4 in the order.
Williams, Sykes, Knoxzak, and Wright each had two hits to pace Toledo’s nine-hit outing.