FRIDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 10, @SIUE 9
Belmont 8, @UT Martin 1
@Austin Peay 8, Murray State 3
@#3 Oklahoma State 4,
Southeast Missouri 0
TENNESSEE TECH 10, SIUE 9
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - An offensive battle went in favor of the Tennessee Tech baseball team Friday evening, as the Golden Eagles (23-19, 7-9) outlasted Ohio Valley Conference foe SIUE at Roy E. Lee Field by a final score of 10-9.
Every member of the purple and gold reached base at least twice on the night, with seven tallying hits and another group of seven securing at least one walk. The total team effort started early for visitors from Cookeville, as the Golden Eagles took an early lead and never looked back.
With one out in the second inning, designated hitter John Dyer pushed Tech out front for good, blasting a solo home run. It marked his ninth of the year and 21st of his career.
Third baseman Gabe Lacy ripped a single up the middle to drive in the second run of the ball game and was followed soon after by a sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of shortstop Ed Johnson for another marker. Left fielder Jason Hinchman made it a 5-0 lead for the purple and gold, lacing a two-run single to center field.
SIUE (20-21, 7-9) answered back with a pair of runs in the third and two more in the fifth, pulling to within one. The Golden Eagles fought back in the sixth, extending their advantage back out to four.
In the sixth, Dyer drove in his second run of the game, drawing a bases-loaded walk as one of the team's 13 free passes on the night. First baseman Golston Gillespie sent a sac fly to left field, extending the lead to 7-4. Right fielder Ryan Guardino followed by scoring on a wild pitch for an 8-4 lead.
The Cougars took two back in the seventh, but Tech had one more burst ready to go in the eighth. With the bases loaded and a pair of outs, second baseman Nick Spardone delivered the big hit, lacing a two-run single to left field for a 10-6 advantage.
SIUE scored three times in the bottom of the eighth, but right-handed pitcher Travis Odom came in and collected the final out of the frame with the bases loaded. He made quick work of the Cougars in the ninth, forcing a fly out before striking out the final two batters to pick up his first save as a Golden Eagle.
Starter Peyton Calitri earned his team-high fifth win of the season, tossing six frames with five runs allowed and a pair of punchouts. Spardone led the hitters with a trio of knocks while Hinchman paced the squad with three walks.
BELMONT 8, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - Behind career nights from Andy Bean and Brodey Heaton, the Belmont University baseball team overpowered the University of Tennessee at Martin on Friday night, 8-1, at Skyhawk Field in Martin, Tenn.
Bean (W, 8-1) threw his second complete game as a Bruin, gathering a career-high 13 strikeouts while issuing just one walk. The sophomore from Fisherville, Tenn., allowed just one run on five hits while recording a career-high 116 pitches.
It's the first complete game from a Belmont pitcher since Bean went the distance on March 20, 2021, against SIUE, and the most strikeouts since Casey Queener had 13 punchouts against SIUE on March 22, 2019.
The left-hander picked up ten swinging strikeouts on the evening, and retired the last nine batters he faced in order with six strikeouts.
Bean has now gone at least six innings in each of his last eight starts, and is tied for second in the country with eight victories.
Heaton belted two three-run homers and finished with a career-high six RBIs on the evening. The sophomore from Newburgh, Ind., stepped in with two runners on in the first inning and blasted a three-run shot to left field to give Belmont a 3-0 lead.
The first baseman then hit his second home run of the night with a three-run blast to left-center field in the ninth inning, breaking open what had been a 5-1 game.
The multi-homer game is the second of the season for Heaton, who also hit two home runs against Murray State on April 1.
The other two runs for the Bruins came in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Carson Shacklett and a sacrifice fly from John Behrends.
AUSTIN PEAY 8, MURRAY STATE 3
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Center fielder TJ Foreman supplied three hits and three RBI as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team opened its Ohio Valley Conference series against Murray State with an 8-3 victory, Friday night, on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
On the mound, starting pitcher Tyler Delong (3-2) supplied one of his best outings of the season en route to the win. He held Murray State scoreless for five innings while allowing one hit and striking out seven of the 18 batters he faced.
Meanwhile, Austin Peay’s (17-29, 8-8 OVC) offense slowly figured out Murray State starter Jacob Pennington. After two scoreless innings, the Govs opened the third with three-straight hits. Third baseman Michael Robinson and right fielder Jeremy Wagner opened with back-to-back singles. Shortstop John Bolton then hit the first of his two doubles to drive in two runs. Foreman’s first hit then drove in Bolton for a 3-0 lead.
Two innings later, the Govs ended Pennington’s day on the mound with four straight hits to begin the fifth. Foreman drove in a run with a single and second baseman Ty DeLancey drove in two runs with a double that capped the inning-opening outburst. Murray State reliever Spencer Keylon would get a pair of outs before Robinson singled to drive in the fourth run for a 7-0 lead.
Murray State (25-20, 9-10 OVC) broke up the Govs shutout bid in the eighth inning. Reserve first baseman Wes Schad’s two-run single in the eighth providing the Racers’ first runs. Third baseman Bryson Bloomer would tack on a RBI single in the ninth to close the game’s scoring.
Foreman went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Bolton was 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. Robinson and Avros also had two hits each.
Reliever Kyle Nunn notched his season’s first save by recording the final out with the bases loaded in the ninth.
Bloomer went 4-for-5 with a RBI to pace Murray State’s nine-hit outing. Pennington (3-1) suffered his season’s first loss after allowing seven runs on eight hits in four-plus innings.
#3 OKLAHOMA STATE 4, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
STILLWATER, Okla. - Brett Graber and Spencer Parker each had two hits as Southeast Missouri (30-14) fell to #3 Oklahoma State (32-13) Friday night at O'Brate Stadium.
OSU scored once in each of the first and the second innings to build an early lead.
The Cowboys then added two more on a Caeden Trenkle home run and sacrifice fly by Jake Thompson to put the Redhawks away in the bottom of the fifth.
Jason Rackers (4-2) was tagged the loss for SEMO. Rackers struck out four, walked three and gave up four runs on eight hits in six innings.
Graber and Parker each went 2-for-4, while Lincoln Andrews, Andrew Keck and Tyler Wilber each had a hit.
Justin Campbell (7-1) picked up the win. Campbell tossed seven scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts, walked one and allowed just six hits.
OSU added 10 hits for the night.