TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Bradley 5,
SIUE 4
Eastern Illinois 3, @Lindenwood 1 (12)
@Southern Illinois 8,
Southeast Missouri 5
Saint Louis 16,
@Southern Indiana 11
@Lipscomb 4,
Tennessee Tech 1
@#5 Arkansas 21,
Little Rock 5
BRADLEY 5, SIUE 4
PEORIA, Ill. - SIUE baseball scored a run, but left a pair of runners on base in the ninth as Bradley defeated the Cougars Tuesday night at Dozer Park.
Brady Bunten led of the ninth inning with his Ohio Valley Conference-leading 17th double of the year. Braedyn Brewer reached on a two-out error sending Bunten to third base. Logan Smith followed with a single to center and SIUE was within a run. That is as close as the Cougars would come.
Bradley got on the board with a hit and a pair of flyouts in the first inning. SIUE responded with runs in each of the next three innings.
Kyle Ratliff got the scoring started for the Cougars with his seventh home run of the year in the second inning-a one out shot to left field. Josh Ohl doubled with two outs in the third and then scored on an infield single by Brennan Orf. Avery Owusu-Asiedu drove a ball deep to centerfield in the fourth. The ball ricocheted off the wall and back towards the infield as Owusu-Asiedu rounded the bases for his fifth home run of the year and a 3-1 SIUE lead.
The Braves took advantage of two walks to score a run without a hit in the fourth. Bradley then got back-to-back homers from Ryan Vogel and Connor O'Brien in the fifth to take a 4-3 advantage. Two more walks in the fifth and Bradley picked up another run without a hit in the fifth inning to make it 5-3.
SIUE outhit Bradley 7-3. No Cougar player had more than a single hit.
Zeus Ponder made his second start of the year for SIUE. He allowed a run on a hit in three innings. He struck out two and walked three.
Three relievers allowed at least a run before Ian Benner finished the game with two scoreless, hitless innings. He fanned three.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, LINDENWOOD 1 (12)
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Eastern Illinois baseball (16-12, 1-5 OVC) earns their 16th win of the season after a 3-1 victory in the 11th inning at Lindenwood (7-26, 4-5 OVC). Despite only having five hits, EIU wins their first of two midweek games this week.
Lincoln Riley was the hero of Tuesday's night game as he had the go-ahead two RBI single in the top of the 11th inning to secure the Panthers victory. Ben Gallaher also had two hits for the Panthers in the game.
Relief pitcher Colton Coca (W, 2-2) earns his second win of the season after pitching the final 2.2 innings while not allowing a hit and striking out four Lions. Easton Rakers suffers the loss for Lindenwood.
Both offenses started off slow on Tuesday as EIU did not record a hit until the third inning. Kolten Poorman and Gallaher both had singles in the third, but were left stranded. Laxner allowed a triple in the bottom of the inning, but was able to get out of trouble.
The Panthers had a chance in the fifth inning with the bases loaded after Gallaher, Riley and Logan Eickhoff all got on base. Jacob Brown came in relief for Lindenwood and got them out of the pinch.
Laxner allowed the only run of the game for Lindenwood in the sixth inning after Logan Stevens drove home Colin Shea. The Lions had the only two extra base hits in the game with a triple and a double by Shea.
Jonathon Hanscom came in relief for Laxner and was able to shut the door on the Lions. EIU would finally tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning after Grant Lashure got on by error to bring home Sean Lynch Jr.
Closer Zane Robbins loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth when Coca came in and was able to get out of the jam with a fly out to right field and his first of four strikeouts.
Riley delivered his first hit of the game in the top of the 11th inning which brought home two runs to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 3-1. Coca went three up three down in the bottom of the inning to close out the victory.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 8, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 5
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southeast Missouri (18-17, 7-2 OVC) fell on Tuesday night to Southern Illinois (20-13, 8-1 MVC) by a final score of 8-5 at Itchy Jones Stadium.
RHP Eddie White (0-2) started the game for the Redhawks as the freshman gave up a run in 1.1 innings of work. He allowed just two hits and a walk over eight batters.
The Redhawks and Salukis combined for 22 hits, 11 a piece. Third baseman Danny Sperling paced the SEMO offense going 3-for-4 with an RBI.
SIU catcher Cole Christman led the Salukis with a 3-for-3 day, including two doubles, and an RBI.
The Salukis jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the fourth inning before the Redhawks scored their first run of the ballgame. Chance Resetich continued his RBI success with a two-out RBI single to center field to plate Brett Graber to cut the Saluki lead to just two. An RBI sacrifice fly and an infield single gave the Salukis their fourth and fifth runs in the fifth inning to give SIU a 5-1 advantage. The Salukis extended their lead with their fifth unanswered run to give SIU an 8-0 lead.
Down to their final nine outs, the Redhawks did not go away. A bases-loaded walk to Josh Cameron brought in SEMO's second run of the ball game with two outs in the seventh inning. Lincoln Andrews continued the two-out rally with aa single to center field to drive in Resetich and Jevon Mason to cut the SIU lead in half, 8-4.
In the eighth, leading-hitter Danny Sperling got his third hit of the ball game resulting in an RBI single to center field to score Carlos Aranda from second base. The Redhawks scored four runs over in the game's final third but fell short by a final score of 8-5.
Peyton Leeper finished the day going 2-for-4 as the only other Redhawk with a multi-hit day.
SAINT LOUIS 16, SOUTHERN INDIANA 11
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Baseball lost a rollercoaster game with Saint Louis University, 16-11, Tuesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI watched its record go to 9-23 in 2023, while SLU goes to 19-11 this spring.
The first three frames were a rollercoaster ride with the Screaming Eagles have control early. USI grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening inning with a RBI-single by junior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas).
After SLU responded by with a three-run second inning, USI posted a four-spot in the bottom of the second to regain the lead, 5-3. Freshman third baseman Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) started the scoring with a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2 before junior centerfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) tied the score, 3-3, with a RBI-double.
The Eagles continued the fourth by posting their largest lead of the game, 5-3, when Ebest drove in a run by reaching on a fielder's choice and sophomore shortstop Ricardo Van Grieken (Venezuela) singled to center field.
After SLU tied the game 5-5 in the top of the third, the Billikens exploded for 10 unanswered runs with two in the fifth, seven in the sixth and one in the seventh to lead 15-5. USI would respond in the bottom of the seventh, taking a big bite out of the deficit by sending 11 hitters to the plate and scoring six times to make the score, 15-11.
The Eagles scored the first four in the seventh on a two-run single by senior designated hitter Daniel Lopez (Dominican Republic), a RBI-single by Niehaus, and a fielder's choice by senior catcher Lucas McNew (Floyds Knobs, Indiana) to narrow the SLU lead to 15-9. USI completed the frame with two more runs crossing the plate after freshman third baseman Jacob Winzenread (McCordsville, Indiana) reach on an error to post a 15-11 mark on the board.
That would be as close as the Eagles would come in the final two frames as the Billikens added another tally in the ninth for the 16-11 final.
On the mound, USI junior right-hander Carter Stamm (Jasper, Indiana) took the loss in relief for the Eagles. Stamm (1-1), who was one of eight USI hurlers Tuesday night, allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in an inning of work.
LIPSCOMB 4, TENNESSEE TECH 1
NASHVILLE - In a rematch from February, the Tennessee Tech baseball team fell to in-state rival Lipscomb Tuesday evening in Nashville, dropping a 4-1 tilt at Dugan Field after besting the Bisons in Cookeville a month a half ago, 10-5.
Lipscomb (16-16) jumped out front in the second and never looked back, using a solo home run to take a 1-0 lead. The Bisons got a second long ball in the third to double their advantage to 2-0.
The Golden Eagles (10-21), got on the board in the fifth with a patient approach. Designated hitter Eddie Garza kicked off the frame by drawing a four-pitch walk. He advanced to second base on a passed ball and moved to third on a ground out.
Shortstop Tanner Shiver drew a four-pitch walk to put a pair on base before another passed ball allowed Garza to score the purple and gold's lone run of the ball game.
The Bisons got a run back in the sixth with an RBI single and posted one more for good measure in the eighth, using another RBI base knock to post the 4-1 lead and final score.
Senior John Dyer stayed hot at the plate on the day, finishing 2-for-4 with a double and a single. Troy Baunsgard also tallied a multi-hit day for the Tech effort. Nine different Tech pitchers combined to cover the contest for the Golden Eagles.
#5 ARKANSAS 21, LITTLE ROCK 5
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Sophomore Nico Baumbach had two hits, reached base three times, but not much else went the Trojans way as Little Rock fell to 5th ranked Arkansas 21-5 Tuesday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Little Rock jumped out to an early lead in the contest, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning after a successful replay challenge that overturned an inning ending double play call and extended the inning.
Arkansas struck back swiftly, scoring nine runs in the bottom of the frame after the leadoff batter flew out to left field. Base on balls aided the Razorbacks in reaching base as they only collected four hits in the inning. The Razorbacks continued to add on in every inning through the fourth, stretching the lead out to 20-2 by the end of the fourth inning.
The Trojans scored again in the top of the sixth inning, bringing home three runs of five consecutive hits before Arkansas was able to record an out.
Arkansas was able to add one more run in the bottom of the sixth before a scoreless top of the seventh ended the game as the 10 run-rule kicked into effect.
Despite the lopsided result on the scoreboard, a Trojan batter reached base in one form or another in every inning of the game.
The difference in the contest came down to free passes issued to the opposition. Little Rock had 11 hits to the Razorbacks 13 but walked nine more batters than Arkansas which turned out to be the difference maker.
Baumbach had an impressive 2-for-3 game with two runs scored and an RBI that came on the reversed call in the first inning.
Noah Brewer came in off the bench and put together a 2-for-2 game, singling twice and driving in a run.