WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Marshall 4,
@Morehead State 2
@Southern Indiana 4, Butler 1
@Purdue 5,
SIUE 1
@Eastern Illinois 4, Saint Louis 3
@Missouri 9,
Lindenwood 0 (5)
MARSHALL 4, MOREHEAD STATE 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Eagles pieced together a strong effort against Marshall Wednesday afternoon, but fell just short against the Thundering Herd, 4-2.
Six Eagles recorded hits, with the biggest one coming off the bat of Kirya Kingery, who stroked her first home run of the season, accounting for both of Morehead State's runs. Emily Williams also added a single, stretching her team-high on base streak to 18 games.
Lennon Spicer, Jessie Begley, and Madi Ogden all split time in the circle, with Begley matching a career-high four strikeouts. Kaytlyn Cripps also threw out a pair of potential base stealers.
Marshall struck first with a run in the opening inning, but Spicer navigated out of a jam to keep the score at 1-0.
The Eagles threatened in the bottom of the second with back-to-back singles from Emily Williams and Taylor Rhea to open the inning, but saw the next three batters sat down to keep the 1-0 deficit.
Marshall extended their lead to 2-0 in the third, but Begley stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout. Kirya Kingery then answered back by banging a two-run blast off the foul pole to tie the game.
Begley struck out the side in the fourth, but the Herd rallied in the fifth to retake a 4-2 lead. The Eagles stranded runners on second in back-to-back innings, and then went down in order in the seventh to end the game.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 4, BUTLER 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -University of Southern Indiana Softball grabbed a 4-1 win against Butler University on Wednesday, as early offense and solid pitching led the Screaming Eagles to the midweek victory.
With Wednesday's win, USI improved to 15-17 on the season. Out of the Big East Conference, Butler dropped to 15-24 overall.
The Screaming Eagles had a fast start to Wednesday's contest, receiving solid defense and early scoring. To end the top of the first inning, sophomore outfielder Kennedy Nalley (Huntingburg, Indiana) made a highlight catch, and the momentum carried into USI's first at-bats in the bottom of the first. Junior outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) and Nalley led off USI's half of the first with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, junior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) doubled to right-center field to score both runners and give Southern Indiana an early 2-0 advantage.
Through four innings, USI doubled its lead to 4-0. Bedrick and senior Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) tacked on RBIs in the second and fourth frames, respectively. Freshman pitcher Raegan Gibson (Louisville, Kentucky) made her first career start for USI, hurling four shutout innings with three strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Gibson picked up her first career win.
Butler scored its only run in the sixth inning, as USI locked down the game the rest of the way. Freshman pitcher Kylie Eads (Indianapolis, Indiana) finished the game after coming in for Gibson. Eads received her second save of the season after going three innings, giving up one unearned run and only one hit, and striking out a batter.
Offensively, Bedrick went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI for USI. Fair had two RBIs on the double. Seven other Screaming Eagles tallied a hit in the game.
For Butler, senior pitcher Mackenzie Griman dropped to 7-11 on the season with the loss, surrendering two runs off three hits in her only inning of work in the first inning.
The Screaming Eagles continue their four-game homestand Saturday and Sunday, taking on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Ohio Valley Conference action from USI Softball Field. Saturday's doubleheader starts at 1 p.m., and Sunday's series finale is scheduled for a 12 p.m. first pitch. Admission to all 2023 USI Softball home spring games is free, courtesy of The Women's Hospital Deaconess.
PURDUE 5, SIUE 1
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -Purdue scored four times in the bottom of the sixth Wednesday as the Boilermakers edged SIUE softball 5-1 in a nonconference battle.
SIUE dropped to 15-21 and now heads to Evansville, Indiana, for a three-game series against Ohio Valley Conference newcomer Southern Indiana. The schedule has two games set for Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday starting at noon.
The Cougars went toe to toe with the Big Ten foes. Purdue scored first with an RBI single by Jade Moy.
Paige Rocha tied the score for the Cougars in the third inning with her team-leading fifth home run of the season. Rocha lifted the ball over the fence in right-center field off Purdue starter Alex Echazarreta.
SIUE finished with five hits, outhitting the Boilermakers overall 5-4. Lexi King would have one of those hits to improve her hitting streak to nine games and her reached base streak to 13 games.
Both King and Rocha head into weekend play batting better than .400. King stands at .412 while Rocha is holding at .406.
Purdue would take advantage of its opportunity to score in the sixth tallying four runs overall, including a two-run triple by Jordyn Ramos.
Sydney Baalman took the loss in relief and is now 7-8 overall for the Cougars. Madi Elish improved to 7-2 for Purdue, also in a reliever role.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 4, SAINT LOUIS 3
CHARLESTON, Ill. -Eastern Illinois softball came from behind twice on Wednesday against Saint Louis with the second time being the charm as Aniya Holt smashed a walk-off double off the right field fence to hand Eastern Illinois a 4-3 win.
EIU trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh opening the inning with back-to-back hits by Jaylen Prichard and Lindy Milkowski that placed runners at second and third with no outs. Prichard had a single up the middle to open the frame followed by a double to right by Milkowski. Kendall Grover tied the game with a single to right that scored Prichard but Milkowski was thrown out at the plate by Billikens right fielder Ashley Marietta for the second out of the inning. During the play at the plate, Grover was able to advance to third. She would come home to score the winning run as the next batter, Holt, smacked a double off the fence.
Grover and Holt were both 2-for-4 on the day for the Panthers with each driving home two runs. Prichard led EIU with a 3-for-3 day reaching base all four times with a walk in the first.
Saint Louis took an early lead in the fourth on a two-run home run by Abby Mallo. EIU countered in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single up the middle by Grover and RBI single by Holt to left center.
The Billikens took one more lead in the sixth when Chloe Rhine drew a walk to open the inning. She moved to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a double down the left field line by Gabbie Kowalik.
The starting pitchers for both teams did not factor into the decision as Oliva Price (9-3) pitched the final three innings for EIU to collect the win. Kaili Hanner (0-6) pitched the final 2.2 innings for SLU and suffered the loss.
EIU’s two pitchers – Rachel Kaufman and Price – allowed just four Saint Louis hits on the day.
EIU improved to 21-15 overall. Saint Louis falls to 15-22.
MISSOURI 9, LINDENWOOD 0
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Recap coming soon.