THURSDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 5, Belmont 4
@Murray State 7, Tennessee Tech 2
Morehead State 4, @Austin Peay 2
SIUE 5, BELMONT 4
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Connor Kiffer singled home the game winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as SIUE topped Belmont on Thursday night.
SIUE (25-24, 12-10 OVC) scored four times in the first inning to grab a lead over Belmont (35-19, 16-6), who entered the weekend in first place in the OVC.
The Bruins would tie the game with four runs in the fourth, and the game would remain tied until the walk-off hit.
Brant Glidewell started the game for SIUE and went 6.1 innings, striking out six. Jake Bockenstedt (4-7) picked up the win, pitching the final 2.2 innings and allowing only three hits and no walks while striking out three.
Andy Bean struck off eight for the Bruins but did not factor into the decision. Dominic Baratta (3-2) suffered the loss.
Kiffer was one of eight different SIUE players with a hit on the night.
MURRAY STATE 7, TENNESSEE TECH 2
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State (30-22) baseball defeated Tennessee Tech 7-2 on Thursday evening at Johnny Reagan Field in Murray, Kentucky.The win secures back-to-back 30 win seasons for Racers baseball for the first time since 1975-76.
Hayden Wynja was again one of the headliners for Murray State as the left-handed pitcher put together another terrific performance on the mound. Wynja would go 6.2 innings pitched with one earned run while allowing just four Golden Eagle hits and striking out seven. The southpaw has lowered his ERA to 3.47 this season and has struck out 81 batters and has allowed an opponent batting average of .219. Before allowing a solo home run in the seventh inning, Wynja had thrown 26.0 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Jacob Pennington would put together a solid outing in relief going 2.1 innings pitched while allowing just one earned run.
The Racers offense did the majority of their damage with a big second inning. Drew Vogel, Brennan McCullough, and Dustin Mercer would combine for three straight doubles before Carson Garner and Alex Crump his back-to-back home runs to push across five runs in the inning. Mercer highlighted the MSU offense tonight with three hits in the contest with two RBIs and a run scored. McCullough and Garner each collected two RBIs in the game as well.
MOREHEAD STATE 4, AUSTIN PEAY 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In the opening game of its final regular season series, the Morehead State baseball team took down Austin Peay in Clarksville 4-2 Thursday to inch closer to securing a top four seed in the OVC Tournament next week. The win marked the third straight victory for the Eagles, giving them a two-game lead over Austin Peay in the OVC.
Grant Herron (W, 4-3) took the ball for Morehead State in the opener and pitched brilliantly across five innings. Herron allowed only one run on five hits and two walks, striking out five in his fourth win of the season. Double plays proved to be his best friend in the win, as the Eagles turned three while Herron was in the game.
In the first inning, Ryley Preece, Jackson Feltner, and Alex Jacobs drew walks, and Nick Gooden's sacrifice fly put the Eagles on top early 1-0. Austin Peay got a run back in the fourth, but it didn't take long for the Eagles to regain the lead and more. Preece (33 games) and Jacobs (49 games) both extended their on-base streaks in the contest, with Jacobs now only one game shy of the school record.
In the fifth, Bryson Stripling led off with a single and then scored on a two-run blast from Ryley Preece (2-3, HR, 3B, 2 BB), who has raked in his four career games in Clarksville. His 13th homer of the season marked his fifth career home run vs. Austin Peay, and put the Eagles up 3-1. Moments later, Jackson Feltner (1-2, HR, 2 BB) worked a full count and launched a 433 ft. home run to left-center field to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead. Feltner now has 16 home runs on the season, the most by an Eagle since Trevor Snyder (18) in 2018.
Joe Rotkis came on for Grant Herron in the sixth inning and threw a scoreless frame, stranding a runner at third base after allowing a leadoff single. Jarrett Miller came on in the seventh and allowed a run, but forced the tying run to groundout and end the inning.
John Bakke (SV, 8) came on for Miller with a man on in the eighth inning and walked two Govs to load the bases with no outs, but an infield fly and back-to-back strikeouts stranded three to keep the score 4-2. Bakke came back out in the ninth and needed only six pitches to slam the door on any hope of a comeback to record his eighth save of the season.