FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Samford 10-2,
Morehead State 1-0
@Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4,
Lindenwood 0
@Queens 13,
Tennessee Tech 12
@Washington State 7,
Southern Indiana 5
SAMFORD 10-2, MOREHEAD STATE 1-0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Morehead State baseball team fell to Samford twice on Friday as the Eagles' offensive struggles continued, scoring just one run in 15 innings of play. MSU has now lost three straight after an 8-0 start.
Ryley Preece's leadoff home run proved to be the only Eagle hit of the first game on Friday, and after Jackson Feltner drew a walk, Morehead State was unable to manage another baserunner in a 10-1 loss.
Senior Luke Helton (2-1) got the ball to start for Morehead State (8-2), and danced in and out of trouble through three innings before the Samford bats caught fire in the fourth inning, taking a lead the Bulldogs never lost.
The Eagles got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the top of the first inning. Preece put Morehead State on the board with a leadoff home run off Junior Cravey. The Eagles were unable to hold the lead, as Samford scored 10 times over the remaining six innings to grab the win.
GAME 2 | Samford 2, Morehead State 0
Seven innings proved to be not enough in the second game of Friday's doubleheader, but Samford finally posted the first runs of the game in extras on a walkoff homer to down MSU and take the series.
Jarrett Miller (0-1) came out of the bullpen for Morehead State (8-3) and took the loss after sending the game to extras with a scoreless seventh inning. John Bakke was a bright spot for the Eagles, starting the ballgame and throwing six shutout innings, allowing four hits, with three walks and three strikeouts.
At the plate, the Eagles were paced by senior Chase Vinson, who went 1-for-3 on the day with a double and a walk. Roman Kuntz put together a noteworthy day at the dish as well, going 2-for-4. Senior Carter Sakamoto also helped out for Morehead State, putting together two hits in three trips to the plate.
Morehead State managed two chances with runners on third in the shutout, going a total of 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The Eagles last got a runner on third in the eighth, when Kuntz made it 90 feet away from scoring with nobody out. Samford would go on to walk it off with a two-run homer.
TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 4, LINDENWOOD 0
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Lindenwood baseball team (2-7) lost 4-0 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-5) on Friday night.
Sophomore Preston Salazar (0-3) got the ball to start for Lindenwood and took the loss. The right-hander went 6.2 innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on five hits, allowing three walks and striking out two.
Senior Joe Copeland led the way offensively for the Lions, going 1-for-4 in the ballgame with a double. Junior Logan Stevens put together a noteworthy day at the plate as well, going 1-for-4 with a double.
The Islanders picked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning on one hit and one error. A&M-Corpus Christi added another run in the seventh, and an unearned run in the eighth frame. The Lions last got a runner on third in the fourth, when junior Tyson Ludwig made it 90 feet away from scoring with two outs.
QUEENS 13, TENNESSEE TECH 12
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It was a high-scoring affair in Charlotte Friday afternoon, as the Tennessee Tech baseball team fell in a nail-biter in the series opener at Queens University of Charlotte, 13-12.
Queens took an early, 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Golden Eagles were quick to answer in the second. With two outs in the frame, shortstop Nick Spardone peppered a single to center field, plating a pair for a 2-1 Tech lead.
The Royals flipped the script pretty quickly, using a lead-off home run in the second to tie the game and three round-trippers to score four in the third inning. Tech grabbed one back in the fourth, with designated hitter Troy Baunsgard delivering an RBI single.
The home squad tacked on two more in the fourth, increasing its lead to 8-3 and looking to pull away. The purple and gold refused to go quietly, making a stand in the fifth with four more runs.
Third baseman Peyton Mills drove in the first two of the frame, blistering a two-run base knock to left field. After the Golden Eagles loaded the bases again, Baunsgard came up clutch with a two-run double to right-center field, trimming the Royals' lead to 8-7.
After Queens took back a run in the bottom half, the Cookeville crew evened things up in the sixth. Catcher Hayden Gilliland started the rally, blasting a lead-off bomb to center field for his second long ball of the season. Right fielder Theo Bryant IV had an interesting trip around the bases to eventually square the contest, drawing a walk, advancing to second on a balk, moving over to third on a wild pitch, and finally scoring on a sac fly to center field off the bat of second baseman Eddie Garza.
Once again, the Royals' offense followed up Tech's success with their own, moving back in front, 10-9, with a run in the bottom of the sixth. The seventh represented the lone scoreless frame of the day before the purple and gold went back to work.
Tech tied the ball game again in the eighth, this time with Gilliland denting the dish on a wild pitch. Queens moved back out front with a solo dinger to lead off the bottom half, leaving the Golden Eagles one more chance.
The bats delivered, with Bryant tying the game with a sac fly to right field. With two outs and runners on the corner, Garza produced the clutch moment of the game for the purple and gold, slashing an RBI single to center field for a 12-11 Tech lead.
The Queens attack wouldn't be deterred however, as the Royals gathered a one-out, two-run single through the right side to earn the walk-off victory, 13-12.
Gilliland produced a 3-for-4 day at the plate, scoring three times and walking twice. Baunsgard also racked up three hits on the day, driving in a trio of runs. Garza, Mills, and Spardone each produced a pair of RBI in the contest as well.
Right-handed hurler Parker MacCauley turned in a solid day on the mound for the Golden Eagles, allowing just one run over two innings of work. He struck out a season-high four batters while holding Queens to one hit.
WASHINGTON STATE 7, SOUTHERN INDIANA 5
PULLMAN, Wash. - University of Southern Indiana Baseball left the bases loaded in the ninth in losing to Washington State University, 7-5, Friday afternoon in Pullman, Washington. The Eagles watch their record go to 6-3, while WSU goes to 8-1.
USI had an uphill climb after WSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three in the first and one in the second. The Eagles rallied to cut the deficit to one run, with a three-run third inning and tied the score with a tally in the sixth.
USI junior designated hitter Gavin McLarty (Buckner, Kentucky) put the Eagles on the scoreboard in the third with a RBI-single, while freshman second baseman Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) shrank the deficit to one run, 4-3, with a two-run triple. The Eagles knotted the score in the sixth, 4-4, when senior rightfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly junior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas).
The Cougar bats came back to life to regain the lead 7-4 by scoring a tally in the seventh and sealed the eventual victory with two runs in the eighth for a 7-4 advantage.
The Eagles tried to rally in the ninth, but fell short after loading the bases with no outs. Niehaus, who led USI with three RBIs in the game, drove in a run with a RBI-single to cut the deficit to two, but the Cougar hurlers struck a pair of USI hitters to stranded a trio of Eagles on base as they closed out the 7-5 final.
On the mound, sophomore right-hander Adam Weihe (Louisville, Kentucky) took the loss for USI relief. Weihe allowed one run on four hits, while striking out five in three innings of work.
Eagles' sophomore right-hander Tyler Hutson (Villa Hills, Kentucky) started for USI and picked up the no-decision. Hutson gave up four runs on six hits and a pair of walks in 2.2 innings of work.