FRIDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 9, @Lindenwood 5
Little Rock 4, @Eastern Illinois 3
@Southeast Missouri 10, Tennessee Tech 1
@UT Martin 14, Southern Indiana 3
SIUE 5, @VMI 0
MOREHEAD STATE 9, LINDENWOOD 5
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Morehead State Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never trailed from there on the way to a 9-5 victory against the Lindenwood Lions on Friday.
John Bakke (4-2) started on the mound and picked up the win for Morehead State (20-12, 6-1 OVC). The left-hander went six innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned, on eight hits, allowing two walks and striking out six. Freshman Luke Lyman also made an impact on the mound for the Eagles, throwing one shutout inning while allowing no hits.
At the plate, the Eagles were led by junior Roman Kuntz, who went 2-for-4 on the day with a pair of RBI doubles. Chase Vinson and Colton Becker both homered, while Jackson Feltner, Nick Gooden, Carter Owens, and Ryley Preece all notched multi-hit games in the win.
The Eagles got on the board immediately, starting their scoring with one run in the top of the first inning. Morehead State plated two runs off of Lindenwood (MO) pitching, one of which was driven in on a run-scoring double off the bat of Kuntz and the other on an RBI single from Gooden.
The Lions then gained ground, narrowing the lead to 2-1 until the Eagles expanded their advantage in the fourth. Morehead State scored three times, with an output that included back-to-back homers from Becker and Vinson and an RBI single from Carter Sakamoto, which brought the Eagles lead to 5-1.
Lindenwood (MO) narrowed Morehead State's lead to 5-3 before the Eagles stretched the advantage to 7-3 in the seventh inning. The Eagles got back-to-back run-scoring doubles from Jackson Feltner and Kuntz to pick up a couple of runs.
Morehead State held the Lions without a run before their offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. The Eagles drove in two runs when a single from junior Ryley Preece brought home Vinson and senior Carter Sakamoto, bringing the Morehead State advantage to 9-3. Lindenwood put two runs on the scoreboard in the eighth, but the Eagles still coasted to the 9-5 win after a scoreless ninth from Luke Lyman.
LITTLE ROCK 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 3
CHARLESTON, Ill. - It was a classic Friday night pitcher's duel at Coaches Stadium today as neither offense was truly able to get going off of the oppositions starting pitcher until the latter part of the game. In the end Little Rock came out on top, improving to 19-12 and 7-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 4-3 win on Friday afternoon against Eastern Illinois.
The Panthers were the ones to take the early lead in the game. After a leadoff walk to begin the inning, a sac bunt and another bunt single with a throwing error pushed an unearned run across the plate.
Little Rock finally broke into the hit column in the fifth when Luke Pectol peppered a double into the right-center field gap with two outs. However, he was stranded after a lineout to left ended the threat.
An inning later the Trojans would take the lead for good. Beginning with back to back hit by pitches of Noah Brewer and Jake Wright, a batter later Tyler Williams would single through the left side and bring home a pinch running Ben Harmon. A fielder's choice moved the runners up to second and third with two outs where Nico Baumbach singled to left-center, bringing home Wright and Williams, and giving Little Rock a 3-1 lead.
Jackson Wells returned to the bump in the bottom of the frame and, after a leadoff walk, got a strikeout followed by a 5-4-3 double play to keep the momentum with the Trojans.
Little Rock's final run of the game came in the top of the eighth. Trey Hill was leading off in the inning and hit the first pitch he saw the opposite way; it sailed over the right center field fence for a homerun. This was Hill's first homer as well as first collegiate hit and the run would end up being the game winner for the Trojans.
Eastern Illinois made things interesting in the ninth inning, an error and double to begin the inning brought the tying run up to the plate with nobody out. A sac fly and ground out scored a run and put a runner on third before a single brought home the Panthers third run of the game. Fortunately, a popup to short ended the contest a batter later with the tying run stranded at second base.
None of the Panthers three runs of the afternoon were earned as they all came home on miscues on the part of Little Rock. In contrast, all of the Trojans runs were earned as they were able to capitalize in opportunistic situations.
Jackson Wells made his longest start of the season in terms of innings pitched. The sophomore right-hander lasted through eight frames and allowed just five hits to go along with zero earned runs, striking out three in the process.
The Trojans made the most out of four hits on the afternoon as both Williams and Baumbach collected at least one run batted in on their singles in the sixth as well as Hill scoring on the homerun in the eighth.
Little Rock will be back for a doubleheader tomorrow to wrap up the series against Eastern Illinois as Sunday's game was moved up to try and avoid storms in the Charleston area. Noah Burkey is slated to get the ball in game one going up against Ky Hampton for Eastern Illinois.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 10, TENNESSEE TECH 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - LHP Noah Niznik (5-2) tied his career high with 10 strikeouts as Southeast Missouri (19-17, 8-2 OVC) dominated Tennessee Tech (10-22, 2-5 OVC) Friday night by a final score of 10-1.
Niznik, who recorded his fifth victory of the season, threw seven complete innings, allowing just six hits and a run over 27 batters. He did not allow a walk in the outing.
Josh Cameron remained red hot at the plate going 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs to lead the Redhawks offense that accumulated eight hits as a team.
Cameron's first home run got the Redhawks off and running in the first inning. A leadoff walk to Jevon Mason, followed by a Chance Resetich single put runners on first and third for Cameron.
Cameron crushed a ball on to the right field concourse to give the Redhawk a 3-1 lead through the first frame.
TTU led off the game with a Nicho Jordan home run to right field, Niznik's only run allowed of the game.
SEMO continued scoring in the second inning. A leadoff double by Peyton Leeper followed by a Brett Graber walk put Redhawks on first and second with no outs.
A perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Danny Sperling moved the runners 90-feet for Jevon Mason. Mason scorched a ball down the right field line to drive in Leeper and Graber to give SEMO a 4-1 advantage.
Cameron hit his second home run of the game in back-to-back at-bats, scoring Mason, to give the Redhawks a 7-1 lead. For Cameron, the home run drove in his fifth RBI of the contest.
A sacrifice fly by Linclon Andrews and an RBI single to right field by designated hitter Carlos Aranda pushed SEMO's lead to 9-1.
Sperling drove in the 10th and final run of the Redhawks evening with a sacrifice fly to left-center field as SEMO took game one of the series over TTU.
Jevon Mason finished the day going 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and walks. He is currently hitting .349 on the season.
RHP Esteban Hernandez threw two scoreless innings out of the Redhawks bullpen, relieving Niznik in the eighth inning. Hernandez struck out four TTU hitters, allowing just one hit over eight batters.
TTU starting pitcher Hunter Mann (1-4) took the loss in the contest. Mann pitched two complete innings allowing five hits, seven runs, with a pair of strikeouts.
UT MARTIN 14, SOUTHERN INDIANA 3
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team set season-highs in home runs (five), extra-base hits (nine) and total bases (34) during its series opener against Southern Indiana, defeating its Ohio Valley Conference counterpart by a 14-3 margin.
The Skyhawks improved to 10-25 (5-5 OVC) after generating 15 hits – including a pair of grand slams. UT Martin lit up the scoreboard to the tune of eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to break the game open.
All nine Skyhawk starters tallied at least one hit while six of those earned multi-hit performances. Andrew Fernandez (two hits, two runs scored, four RBI’s), Slade Taylor (two hits, three runs scored), Caleb Hobson (two RBI’s, two runs scored), Jack Culumovic (four RBI’s) and Mac Danford (two hits) all went deep for the Skyhawks while Hunter McLean (two runs scored), Blaze Bell and Zac Rice each had two hits apiece.
Seth Petry was dealing from the start, racking up a career-best eight strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work. The senior righty from Murfreesboro, Tenn. tied teammate Jordan Armstrong for the most single-game strikeouts by any UT Martin pitcher in 2023, improving his season record to 3-3.
The Skyhawk bullpen duo of J. Henry Hobson (1.1 innings) and Baylor Jones (two frames) joined forces for 3.1 perfect innings – retiring all 10 Screaming Eagle batters they faced.
Petry’s outing fittingly began with a strikeout as he coasted through a scoreless opening frame. Southern Indiana (9-24, 2-8 OVC) scored once in the top of the second but its lone lead of the game wouldn’t last long.
Fernandez provided UT Martin’s first big blast of the day, crushing a grand slam on an 0-2 count in the bottom of the second to put the Skyhawks on top by a 4-1 margin. His fifth longball of the spring drove in Bell (single), Taylor (single) and Hobson (walk).
Petry dialed up two more strikeouts in a shutdown top of the third. The Screaming Eagles managed two runs in the fourth but Petry stranded a pair of runners with back-to-back strikeouts to keep UT Martin on top, 4-3.
Taylor – Petry’s battery mate – got one run back in the bottom of the fourth after the junior from Thomasville, Ga. jumped on the first pitch he saw in the inning for this first round-tripper of the season, a line-drive shot that reached its final destination beyond the left field wall.
Two additional strikeouts were tacked on to Petry’s stat line in the fifth as he retired the side in order. He left the game with runners on first and second in the sixth and two outs as J. Henry Hobson picked him up with an inning-ending flyout to keep the Skyhawk advantage at 5-3.
After the first two UT Martin hitters were retired on three total pitches, the Skyhawks sent 11 total batters to the plate in its aforementioned offensive explosion in the sixth. Taylor ignited the surge with a walk and came in to score on a double from Rice. Caleb Hobson followed with a two-run missile for his second homer of the 2023 campaign. Fernandez and Smith both singled and after a McLean walk, Culumovic homered for the fourth time in his last seven games for UT Martin’s second grand slam of the contest. Two pitches later, Danford sailed one past the wall in left center for his third jack in the last two games.
The Skyhawk bullpen shut down Southern Indiana the rest of the way. J. Henry Hobson breezed through the seventh, facing the minimum on only eight pitches. Jones then took over, mowing down the Screaming Eagles in the eighth before notching a pair of punchouts in the top of the ninth to seal the win.
UT Martin added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as McLean singled and advanced to third base on a pair of wild pitches. He then crossed the plate on an error to conclude the game’s scoring.
SIUE 5, VMI 0
LEXINGTON, Va. - SIUE baseball won its 20th game of the year Friday, did all of its scoring in the top of the first inning, blanking VMI 5-0 in the opener of a three-game series at Gray-Minor Stadium.
The Cougars are now 20-12. VMI fell to 18-16.
With one out in the first, Avery Owusu-Asiedu drilled his sixth home run of the year following a double by Brennan Orf and a single by Brady Bunten to put the Cougars up 3-0. Kyle Ratliff followed with a walk before Ole Arntson homered for the first time this season to extend the SIUE advantage to 5-0.
VMI starter Andrew Jones (0-1) lasted just one-third of an inning, surrendering all five runs before the Keydets' bullpen kept SIUE off the board for the final 8 2/3 innings.
For the Cougars, Tyler DeLong (4-2) turned his second consecutive strong start throwing six shutout innings, allowing five hits. He struck out eight and walked two. He has thrown 13 2/3 shutout innings over his last two starts.
Jacob Kampf collected his third save of the year with three shutout innings. He struck out four.
SIUE outhit VMI 8-7. Bunten and Arntson each finished with two hits.