SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 16, @Lindenwood 6
@UT Martin 7, Southeast Missouri 4
Morehead State 3-6, @SIUE 2-7
Tennessee Tech 9, @Little Rock 5
@#16 Oral Roberts 9,
Southern Indiana 2
EASTERN ILLINOIS 16, LINDENWOOD 6
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (29-18, 10-11 OVC) completed the three-game conference sweep of Ohio Valley Conference newcomer Lindenwood with a 16-6 win on Saturday evening. EIU was the home team due to a schedule change.
Ryan Ignoffo continues his stellar play in conference with a 3-6 day including a double, a home run and four runs batted in. Logan Eikchoff also added two doubles and four RBI to help guide EIU to their 29th win.
Jonathon Hanscom (W, 1-1) picked up his first win of the season after coming into the game in the second inning and throwing in four frames. He allowed two earned runs and had three strikeouts. Ignoffo also pitched the final three innings with four Ks.
For the third straight game against Lindenwood, EIU scored first with five runs in the first inning alone. Eickhoff and Grant Lashure posted back-to-back RBI doubles in the inning while Ja'Lil Akbar added another RBI single to put EIU up 5-0 after one.
Starting pitcher Jackson Nichols pitched into the second and allowed three runs before Hanscom took over. Lindenwood would not score again until the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the second, Ignoffo would hit his 14th home run of the season and second of the series to give the Panthers a 7-3 advantage. Cole Gober would later score on a pass ball.
Heading into the sixth with a 9-6 advantage, Kolten Poorman and Eickhoff delivered two more runs and pushed the lead to five. Ignoffo, Robby Taul, and Jared Evans added three more RBI hits to extend the lead to nine runs.
After three scoreless innings on the mound for Ignoffo, EIU hit the 10 run run-rule mark in the eighth after Lincoln Riley scored on a wild pitch to close out the game.
UT MARTIN 7, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin clinched a winning season in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time ever and also set a program record for OVC wins following a 7-4 triumph over Southeast Missouri at Skyhawk Field.
The victory improved UT Martin to 13-10 in league play, passing the 2019 and 2017 squads for most OVC wins in a single season. It also ensured the Skyhawks (20-31 overall) would wrap up their OVC slate with a league record above .500 as UT Martin has one conference game remaining on the 2023 schedule.
Today’s win also marked the Skyhawks’ first home series victory over the Redhawks since 2010, when they took two out of three games.
All seven UT Martin runs today scored via a pair of home runs. Jack Culumovic extended the Skyhawks’ school record for most grand slams in a season when he cranked the team’s seventh bases loaded jack in the bottom of the first. Hunter McLean then broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run shot and that run support was more than enough for yet another rock-solid pitching performance.
A trio of UT Martin pitchers set a new season-high with 12 strikeouts today. After Tristan Walton fanned eight batters in four innings of work, the bullpen tandem of J. Henry Hobson (2-2, three strikeouts over four shutout innings) and Zach Wager (third save, one strikeout in a scoreless ninth) coasted through the final five innings. In fact, that pair retired 15 of the final 16 Southeast Missouri batters – allowing just a leadoff single in the top of the eighth during that span.
Walton stranded a pair of runners after striking out his second batter of the first inning. Caleb Hobson stroked the first pitch he saw in the bottom half for a double to left center and eventually swiped third base for his 35th stolen bag of the spring. Following a Will Smith walk and Mac Danford hit by pitch, Culumovic’s first swing of the day was a beauty – a towering grand slam over the wall in right field to put the Skyhawks ahead by a 4-0 margin. It marked the third grand slam for Culumovic this season alone as he also accomplished that feat on April 2 against SIUE and April 14 against Southern Indiana.
In the top of the second, Walton left two more Redhawks on base in another scoreless frame. Southeast Missouri (26-25, 14-6 OVC) scored twice in the third inning – one run being unearned – before two more runs crossed the plate in the fourth despite Walton generating all three outs via punchouts.
The Redhawks made a call to their bullpen before the fourth and UT Martin took advantage of the pitching change. Bell and Culumovic each drew walks to start the frame before McLean got every stitch of an 0-1 fastball, depositing the pitch way past the left field wall to make the score 7-4 in favor of the Skyhawks.
J. Henry Hobson entered the contest in the fifth and immediately silenced the Southeast Missouri offense. He retired the first nine batters he faced, needing only a dozen pitches to record his first five outs. At one point, the sophomore righty from Fort Myers, Fla. struck out three consecutive batters as he eventually would fire 31 of his 48 pitches for strikes.
After a scoreless top of the eighth put a dazzling end to J. Henry Hobson’s day, Wager was called upon for his second save opportunity in as many days. As has been shown all season long, absolutely nothing fazed the freshman lefty out of Columbus, Ind. as Wager mowed down the top three hitters in the Redhawk lineup in short order – not allowing a ball out of the infield.
MOREHEAD STATE 3-6, SIUE 2-7
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Recap coming soon.
TENNESSEE TECH 9, LITTLE ROCK 5
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Recap coming soon.
#16 ORAL ROBERTS 9, SOUTHERN INDIANA 2
TULSA, Okla. - University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles fell behind early and were grounded by 16th-ranked Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles, 9-2, Saturday afternoon in Tulsa, Oklahoma. USI watched its record go to 15-34 overall, while Oral Roberts is 39-11.
ORU methodically built an 8-0 lead through six innings, scoring two in the first; one in the third; three in the fifth; and two in the sixth.
The Screaming Eagles tried to start cutting the deficit in the eighth when junior first baseman Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas) hit a two-run blast to right field. The home run was Ebest's team-best 12th of the season and drove in his team-high 50th and 51st runs of the season.
The Golden Eagles would add another tally in the bottom of the eighth for eventual, 9-2 final.
USI junior left-hander Blake Ciuffetelli (Newburgh, Indiana) started and took the loss on the mound. Ciuffetelli (2-1) allowed six runs on nine hits, while striking out one in 4.1 innings of work.
Eagles' sophomore right-hander Gavin Morris (Brazil, Indiana) followed Ciuffetelli to the mound, allowing three runs on seven hits and striking out three in 3.2 frames of work.