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The 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship gets underway with four single elimination games on Wednesday.
This year marks the 43rd OVC Baseball Tournament (the first elimination style event was held in 1979). It is the first time it has been held in Lexington.
Tickets for the event are $10 per adult per day and $5 per day for children (12 and under) and college students with valid ID. An all-session pass (all four days, 10 games) is available for $25. The tickets can be purchased at Wild Health Field or online
HERE. Parking is $5 per day. All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
The venue opened in 2001 and has a seating capacity of 6,994 with additional picnic, lawn and standing room only areas. It is home to both the Lexington Legends and the newly formed Wild Heath Genomes, MLB Partner League professional baseball teams that compete in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Legends won the Atlantic League Championship in 2021, marking the fourth championship in the franchise’s 20-year history.
The event has been held at five neutral site locations after moving from the campus of the regular season champions in 2001. The event has been held in Paducah, Kentucky (2001-09), Jackson, Tennessee (2010-16, 2021), Oxford, Alabama (2017-18), Marion, Illinois (2019) and now Lexington (2022).
This year marks a change in the bracket which will include four single elimination games on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to the double elimination portion of the bracket which will include the No. 1 and 2 seeds (who receive a bye until Thursday games). Saturday’s Championship Game will be a one-game “Winner Take All” matchup.
Fans can watch the entire 2022 OVC Baseball Tournament live on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($19.99/month). ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment, is an integrated part of the ESPN App and (on mobile and connected devices) and ESPN.com.
Game 1: #5 SIUE 13, #8 Austin Peay 1
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
SIUE,
APSU
Game 2: #6 Tennessee Tech 9, #7 Murray State 2
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
TTU,
MUR
Game 3: #5 SIUE 8, #4 Eastern Illinois 6
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
SIUE,
EIU
Game 4: #6 Tennessee Tech 11, #3 Morehead State 9
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
TTU,
MSU
#5 SIUE 13, #8 AUSTIN PEAY 1
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Brant Glidewell tossed a career-high eight innings and the Cougars hit five home runs Wednesday morning in a 13-1 win over Austin Peay giving SIUE its first-ever win at the Ohio Valley Conference baseball championship.
The Cougars improved to 26-26 overall. Austin Peay finished its season at 19-37.
The Cougars scored three times in the second and added another three runs in the third to lead 6-0. SIUE added a run in the fourth to lead 7-0. It was 7-1 in the eighth when the Cougars scored six times in the eighth to seal the win.
Brady Bunten hit a pair of home runs, getting the scoring started with a solo homer in the second. He added a three-run home run in the third. Bunten now has 30 home runs for his career, and is five away from tying SIUE's career home run record.
Steven Pattan hit a two-run homer in the second inning, just the second of his career. Richie Well hit his 13th of the year, a two-run shot, in the eighth inning. Drew Mize hit his first career home run in the eighth for the final margin.
Glidewell (5-2) held the Governor scoreless for seven innings. The only run they managed was a two-out solo home run by All-OVC catcher Jack Alexander in the eighth inning. Glidewell allowed four hits total and struck out five.
#6 TENNESSEE TECH 9, #7 MURRAY STATE 2
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Tennessee Tech had 16 hits, including seven doubles, as they topped Murray State 7-2 in an elimination game to start the 2022 OVC Baseball Championship.
The Golden Eagles scored once in the first inning and never trailed in the contest. The seven doubles were one off the OVC Tournament neutral-site era single-game record.
Ed Johnson had three hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Jason Hinchman hit his 23rd home run of the season and finished with three RBI in the victory.
Jake Slunder had three hits for Murray State who finisehd the season with a 30-25 record.
Peyton Calitri (6-5) got the victory, allowing six hits and two runs over seven innings. All-OVC selection Hayden Wynja (7-4) took the loss, lasting 3.2 innings and giving up four runs (three earned).
#5 SIUE 8, #4 EASTERN ILLINOIS 6
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fifth-seeded SIUE baseball scored six unanswered runs Wednesday to earn a come-from-behind 8-6 win over fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois to advance to the second day of play at the Ohio Valley Conference baseball championship.
SIUE improved to 27-26 overall. The 27 wins are the second-most for the Cougars at the Division I level, matching the 2012 team. SIUE now moves into the double-elimination portion of the tournament and will face No. 1 seed Belmont in an 11 a.m. game Thursday.
Eastern Illinois finished its season at 33-20.
The win over EIU came after SIUE defeated Austin Peay 13-1 in the opening game of the day. SIUE had not previously won a game at the OVC Tournament.
SIUE took an initial 1-0 lead in the first, when Brett Johnson led off the game with a triple off the center field wall and then scored on a groundout by Connor Kiffer. A three-run home run from Eastern Illinois's Dalton Doyle in the second put the Panthers on top 3-1. Johnson blasted his second triple off the wall in the fifth to drive in a run and shave the Panthers' lead to 3-2. Eastern Illinois answered with another three-run inning in the fifth to chase SIUE starter Kaid Karnes.
Karnes worked five innings and allowed six runs, just three earned, on seven hits. He struck out four.
RBIs from Brady Bunten and Avery Owusu-Asiedu in the sixth made it a 6-4 game. The Panthers threatened in the bottom of the inning against reliever Jake Bockenstedt. A two-out single by Lucas DiLuca looked like it would plate a run, but SIUE left fielder came up firing and caught Nicholas Rucker at the plate with a perfect strike to Cougar catcher Steven Pattan.
The Cougars loaded the bases in the seventh inning thanks to two walks and an error before Brennan Orf plugged the left-center gap with a double to clear the bases and put SIUE up 7-6. Richie Well hit his second homer of the day in the ninth for an insurance run.
Bockenstedt (5-7) threw four scoreless innings to earn the win. He allowed three hits. He walked two and struck out one.
Both teams had 10 hits. Johnson finished with three hits, including two triples which tied a single-game tournament record. Orf and Owusu-Asiedu had two hits apiece. The Cougars finished with three triples to tie the single-game team record in the tournament.
#6 TENNESSEE TECH 11, #3 MOREHEAD STATE 9
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Tennessee Tech hit five home runs, tying the OVC Tournament single-game record, on its way to an 11-9 victory over Morehead State to cap Day 1 of the 2022 OVC Baseball Championship.
The victory was the second of the day for the Golden Eagles (28-25), who staved off elimination to advance to the double elimination portion of the bracket.
Jason Hinchman, the OVC's all-time leader in home runs (70), smashed three in the game, tying the OVC single-game record. He had four over the two games on Wednesday, making him one of three players in the past 25 years with 70 or more career home runs.
Ed Johnson and Gabe Lacy also homered for the Golden Eagles.
Roman Kuntz homered and drove in three runs for Morehead State (27-27).