SUNDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 10, @Eastern Illinois 3
@SIUE 6, Tennessee Tech 4
Belmont 15, @UT Martin 5
@Austin Peay 7, Murray State 4
@#3 Oklahoma State 15,
Southeast Missouri 3
MOREHEAD STATE 10, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Morehead State baseball team entered the weekend with the chance to move into third place in the OVC regular season standings with a series win over Eastern Illinois, and the Eagles seized the opportunity Sunday, pulling out a Mother's Day victory over the Panthers to clinch the series.
John Bakke (W, 4-3) took the ball for the second straight Sunday, and delivered a quality start once again, throwing seven innings while allowing only three runs on 10 hits, striking out five EIU batters on his way to his fourth win of the season. Bakke got into trouble in the seventh, allowing all three of EIU's runs to score, but stranded the tying run in scoring position to keep the Eagles ahead 4-3.
MSU threatened a few times in the early going, as Alex Jacobs extended his on-base streak to 43 games (just seven shy of the school record), but the Eagles couldn't cash him in. In the fifth inning; however, the Eagles took advantage of back-to-back singles from Chase Vinson and Isaias Guzman, allowing Brody Shoupe to drop a sacrifice bunt to score Vinson for the first run of the ballgame.
Ryley Preece, the OVC's leader in walks, then drew his 39th walk of the season, to bring up Jackson Feltner. The Louisa, Ky., native retook the team lead in home runs with a three-run bomb over the left-centerfield wall for his 12th longball this season, giving the Eagles a 4-0 lead at the halfway mark. Preece's walk extended his on-base streak to 27 games, the second longest streak for the Eagles this season.
After EIU cut the Eagle lead to one, Nick Gooden crossed home plate on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 5-3. Five more runs crossed in the ninth inning, as Alex Jacobs came up with the bases loaded and delivered a two-run double down the right field line. Nick Gooden drove in another with a single back up the middle, Colton Becker laid down a sacrifice bunt to score a run, and Chase Vinson rounded out the late game rally with an RBI single of his own.
The Eagles have found some magic in the late innings this season, as their six runs in the final two frames pushed their run total in the eighth and ninth innings to 62 on the year.
Jarrett Miller slammed the door on the Panthers in the final two innings, taking the ball from John Bakke and recording a six-out save with two strikeouts.
SIUE 6, TENNESSEE TECH 4
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE senior Collin Baumgartner allowed a single run over seven innings Sunday as SIUE defeated Tennessee Tech 6-4 to win the weekend Ohio Valley Conference series.
SIUE improved to 22-21 overall and 9-9 in OVC play. Tennessee Tech fell to 23-21 overall and 7-11 in league play.
Baumgartner was perfect through 3 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit through his first six innings. He finished with no walks and four strikeouts in his longest outing of the season and improved to 4-2.
The Cougars scored twice in the first inning on RBI hits by Connor Kiffer and Brennan Orf and never trailed in the game.
Jason Hinchman hit his league-leading 21st home run of the year with two outs in the fourth to get the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard and trim the lead to 2-1. The Cougars came back with two runs in the sixth inning on a hit from Drew Mize and a bases loaded walk to Josh Ohl. Orf and Steven Pattan had run-scoring hits in the seventh to extend SIUE's lead to 6-1.
Connor Adams (4-2) started and worked into the sixth inning for the Golden Eagles. He allowed four runs on eight hits.
Tennessee Tech scored three times in the eighth against SIUE reliever Quinn Waterhouse, who was working his second game in the series. Spencer Smith worked the final 1 2/3 innings without allowing a run to close it out. He struck out two.
SIUE outhit Tennessee Tech 11-5. Orf led the way with three hits and two RBIs. Mize and Brett Johnson each had two hits.
Gabe Lacy had two hits to lead Tennessee Tech.
BELMONT 15, UT MARTIN 5
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Belmont University baseball team finished off a dominant sweep over the University of Tennessee at Martin on Sunday afternoon, taking the series finale, 15-5, at Skyhawk Field in Martin, Tenn.
Belmont (31-16, 13-5 OVC) outscored UT Martin 39-7 over the course of the weekend, securing their second road sweep over a conference opponent this season.
The 39 runs are the most for Belmont in any three-game series this season, eclipsing the 34 put up against Murray State during the first weekend of April. The Bruins are now tied with Southeast Missouri for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with two more weekends in conference play.
With the victory, Belmont improved to 8-1 on the road against conference foes, and has now won ten of their last 13 games.
A big day at the plate for the Bruin bats was highlighted by sophomore first baseman Brodey Heaton, who went 4-for-6 with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. Guy Lipscomb finished 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, and Grayson Taylor ended his afternoon 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Lipscomb ended his weekend with six stolen bases in three games, extending his program record for stolen bases in a single season. The sophomore center fielder is currently second in the country with 37 stolen bases.
Heaton went 9-for-15 on the weekend with three home runs and nine RBIs.
Jalen Borders (W, 5-2) earned the win, tossing five solid innings. Dominic Baratta shined in relief, recording three scoreless frames while scattering three singles and picking up three strikeouts. Dusty Baird came on to pitch the ninth and shut the door with three straight retired Skyhawks to clinch the series sweep.
Belmont jumped on the board first with a six-run inning in the second frame. Logan Jarvis delivered an RBI single that scored Heaton before Tommy Crider advanced home from third base on a failed pickoff attempt that turned into a throwing error by the Skyhawk pitcher.
The big inning snowballed with an RBI base hit from Jack Capobianco leading into a three-run home run from Carson Shacklett over the right field wall.
Although the Skyhawks would get a three-run home run in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 6-3 game, the Bruins refused to take their foot off the gas pedal, with an RBI groundout and a Skyhawk error that plated two runs in the fourth and a Capobianco sacrifice fly and another Skyhawk error that scored two more runs in the fifth.
On the day, UT Martin committed five fielding errors.
Heaton hit a two-run homer to left-center in the sixth inning and would get two at-bats to try to get a triple to hit for the cycle, but went 1-for-2 with a single in his last two plate appearances.
RBI singles from Jackson Campbell and Grayson Taylor wrapped up the scoring in the eighth inning.
AUSTIN PEAY 7, MURRAY STATE 4
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Starting pitcher Drew McIllwain struck out a career-high nine batters, leading a pitching effort that struck out a season-high 13 batters as Austin Peay State University’s baseball team clinched its Ohio Valley Conference series against Murray State with a 7-4 victory, Sunday on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Austin Peay (18-30, 9-9 OVC) won the three-game OVC series against the Racers, 2-1. The Governors moved into fifth place in the league standings with two conference weekends remaining. They are one game behind third place, shared by Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech.
McIllwain (4-6) controlled the action through his six innings. He would allow solo home runs in the third and fourth innings for two of the three hits he allowed, McIllwain struck out the side in the fourth to begin a stretch that saw him retire nine of the final 10 batters he faced.
The Govs staked McIllwain to an early four-run lead in the second inning. The first three batters of the inning reached base and a passed ball allowed first baseman John McDonald to score. Shortstop John Bolton drove in the inning’s second run with a single to end Murray State starting pitcher Adrien Reese’s outing.
Austin Peay’s offense greeted the Racers reliver with left fielder Gino Avros earning a walk to load the bases again. Center fielder TJ Foreman drove a ball past the third baseman for an error that resulted in two runs scoring, extending the lead to 4-0 before Murray State could close the inning.
Murray State (26-21, 10-11 OVC) closed within a run in the seventh inning. After an error to start the inning, left fielder Jordan Holly hit a two-run home run and APSU led 5-4 after seven.
The Govs added two insurance runs in the eighth with Avros driving a double off the top of the wall in right center to score right fielder Jeremy Wagner and Bolton, extending the lead to 7-4.
Luke Brown would close the game with two scoreless innings to secure the Govs’ win and pick up his second save of 2022. McIllwain notched the win after allowing two runs on three hits and three walks over his six innings.
Reese (2-3) was saddled with the loss for the Racers after allowing four runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings.
Bolton’s 2-for-4, RBI, and two-run scored outing was the Govs lone multi-hit outing in a nine-hit day. Avros finished 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Designated hitter Jacob Pennington homered in the third as part of his 2-for-5 outing. First baseman Brennan McCullough led off the fourth with a home run in his 2-for-4 day.
#3 OKLAHOMA STATE 15, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3
STILLWATER, Okla. - Andrew Keck and Danny Sperling had two hits apiece in Southeast Missouri's (30-16) 15-3 loss to #3 Oklahoma State (34-13) Sunday at O'Brate Stadium.
OSU built a six-run lead in the first three innings and didn't look back en route to completing its series sweep.
SEMO scored all of its runs in the top of the fifth inning.
After Lincoln Andrews and Joel Vaske walked, Sperling doubled to left center to score both runners. Mason followed with a single and Sperling scored to cut the Cowboys lead in half.
OSU answered with seven more runs in the bottom of the fifth and another two in the sixth to close out its shortened seven-inning win.
Keck went 2-for-3 and Sperling finished at 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Mason and Andrews followed close behind with one hit each.
Austin Williams (6-2) took the loss. Williams allowed six runs on six hits, struck out one and walked three in three innings.
Trevor Martin (3-2) picked up the win for OSU. Martin threw four scoreless innings with six strikeouts and gave up only one hit.