SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 5, Southeast Missouri 1
Tennessee Tech 15, @Murray State 3
Morehead State 13, @Austin Peay 5
EASTERN ILLINOIS 5, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (33-19, 12-12 OVC) takes the final Ohio Valley Conference regular season series against Southeast Missouri (34-19, 16-8 OVC) by a final score of 5-1 in six and two-thirds innings due to a weather cancelation. Ky Matthews-Hampton threw into the seventh inning before the weather delay. He allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts, and gets his first win of the season. Ryan Ignoffo and Lucas DiLuca both collected two hits on the day and a RBI. Nathan Aide also hit an RBI triple to give him six triples on the season. Ja'Lil Akbar also collected an RBI and two runs on the day. Panthers will now wait to see who they will play next week at the OVC Tournament in Lexington, Ky.
Hampton made quick work in the first inning with a three up three down. Panthers had a chance to score in the first with Ignoffo at third, but Chris Worcester grounded out to end the inning.
Grant Lashure and Dylan Drumke lead off the second inning with two singles. Akbar was able to capitalize with runners on base with an RBI single to bring in the first run. DiLuca followed that with an RBI single to right field that scored Drumke.
Ignoffo continued with his great season with an RBI double after DiLuca's single that put runners in scoring position. After a Doyle walk, Chris Worcester was walked with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI walk. EIU would score four runs in the second.
SEMO collected their first hit in the third inning off a Brett Graber single. He would be stranded at second to end the inning. Both teams would go scoreless in the next three innings.
EIU's defense would also hold the Redhawks scoreless in the sixth inning which marked the 14th straight inning that SEMO failed to score in the series. Despite the Panthers' three errors, EIU managed to keep runners off the bases.
Nathan Aide added another run in the sixth inning with an RBI triple to score Akbar from first. Aide leads the team with six triples.
SEMO's Lincoln Andrew hit a lead-off home run off of Hampton in the seventh before the rain delay. The game would be canceled after that giving EIU their 33rd win of the season. This marks the most wins in a single season since the 2001 season when the Panthers went 35-20.
TENNESSEE TECH 15, MURRAY STATE 3
MURRAY, Ky. - The Tennessee Tech baseball team closed out the 2022 regular season in style Saturday afternoon, claiming its second Ohio Valley Conference series in a row with a decisive, 15-3 victory at Murray State at Reagan Field.
After exploding for 15 runs and 21 hits in Friday's huge victory, the Golden Eagles (27-25, 11-13) nearly duplicated the effort, dropping 15 scores and 19 more hits on the Racers (30-24, 11-13) in the final series meeting between the two programs as OVC rivals.
Unlike the first two contests, it was the Golden Eagles touching the scoreboard first Saturday, using the long ball to do the early damage. Working a 3-1 count, first baseman John Dyer smashed a lead-off blast to center field to get things going, his 11th of the year and 23rd of his career.
Catcher Will Long made it back-to-back jacks three pitches later, doubling the lead with a solo shot to left field, his fourth of the year. Left fielder Jason Hinchman drove in another Tech marker with a single to left-center field while catcher Hayden Gilliland made it a 4-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left field.
The Golden Eagles continued to roll into the third, doubling the advantage to 8-0. Center fielder Austin Turner ripped a triple down the left-field line to plate a pair and shortstop Ed Johnson followed with a run-scoring knock to center field. Gilliland made it one more later in the frame, peppering an RBI single of his own to center field.
The Racers showed signs of life in the third, scoring twice to finally cut into the lead, but Tech pushed things back out in the fifth. With a pair of outs and two on, Gilliland kept his great contest rolling, crushing a three-run tank to left-center field for an 11-2 lead. It marked his fifth round-tripper of the year.
Murray got one more on the board in the seventh inning, making it an eight-run ball game, but the Golden Eagles put things out of reach for good in the eighth with four more runs. After a walk, double, and another walk, Johnson cleared the bases with a three-run double. Two batters later, Hinchman made it a 15-3 ballgame with a sac fly to left field.
Johnson paced the Golden Eagle offense with a 5-for-6 showing, four RBI, and three runs scored while Gilliland added five RBI on a pair of hits. Hattier finished with three hits and three runs scored while Turner scored three times with one hit and a pair of walks.
Travis Odom (2-3) picked up his second win of the season with four innings of work out of the bullpen, holding the Racers hitless with just one walk and a pair of strikeouts.
Tyler Sylvester closed out the final one and one-third frames, scattering a pair of hits with a pair of punch-outs. The contest was called after eight innings due to heavy rain and inclement weather moving into the Murray area.
MOREHEAD STATE 13, AUSTIN PEAY 5
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In the final game of the regular season Saturday, the Morehead State baseball teamed continued their winning ways with a 13-5 victory over Austin Peay, sweeping the Governors in Clarksville for the first time in program history. Morehead State will play the winner of Tennessee Tech and Murray State, who will play an elimination game Wednesday prior to playing the Eagles at 7:30 p.m. ET at Wild Health Field in Lexington. The Eagles took two of three from both the Golden Eagles and the Racers earlier in 2022.
During the sixth inning explosion, Alex Jacobs (1-4, HR, 2 RBI) drew a walk, breaking Reid Leonard's school record on-base streak of 50 games set in 2018. Jacobs has reached safely in 51 straight games and 52 of 53 overall in 2022. The graduate student left fielder has been an essential cog in the machine that is the Morehead State offense this season, finishing up the regular season with a .364 batting average and five home runs.
The Eagles fell behind early in the first, as Austin Peay perfectly executed the hit-and-run on an RBI double from Jack Alexander. Just as they did in the prior two games, the Eagles quickly got the run back on a RBI groundout from Isaias Guzman.
In the third inning, Roman Kuntz put the Eagles on top with his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot to make the score 2-1 in favor of MSU. APSU tied the game in the bottom half on a two-out RBI single by Ty Alexander. Isaias Guzman continued his big day at the plate with an RBI double in the fourth to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. The Govs wouldn't go away; however, as a two-run homer put them on top 4-3 after four innings.
A scoreless fifth inning passed before the Eagles put up seven runs with two outs in the top of the sixth. After the first two batters were retired, Colton Becker reached on an error and Isaias Guzman (2-3, 2B, RBI) drew a walk, and both men scored on Brody Shoupe's second home run of the season. Ryley Preece then walked and stole second and then third on a walk from Jackson Feltner and scored on Roman Kuntz's RBI single. Jacobs drew his record-breaking walk, and Nick Gooden stepped in to clear the bases with a three-run double to give the Eagles a 10-4 lead.
A run crossed for each side in the seventh inning before Alex Jacobs smashed a no doubt two-run homer to right field to give the Eagles a 13-5 lead they held until the end.
Alex Kafka got the start and held the Govs to two runs.