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The 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship continues with three games on Thursday. This year marks the 44th OVC Baseball Tournament (the first elimination style event was held in 1979).
Tickets for the event are $10 per adult per day and $5 per day for children (12 and under) and college students with valid ID. An all-session pass (all four days, 10 games) is available for $25. All tickets can be purchased in person at Mtn Dew Park. All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
The venue opened in 2007 was previously known as Rent One Park. It is now home to the Prospect League Team the Thrillville Thrillbillies, who begin play at the end of May. The OVC Championship has been held at the venue one previous time in 2019.
This year's bracket is the same for the second straight year and includes four single elimination games on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to the double elimination portion of the bracket which will include the No. 1 and 2 seeds (who receive a bye until Thursday games). Saturday’s Championship Game will be a one-game “Winner Take All” matchup.
Fans can watch the entire 2023 OVC Baseball Tournament live on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) or as part of the Disney Bundle. ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment, is an integrated part of the ESPN App and (on mobile and connected devices) and ESPN.com. More information can be found at www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.
Game 5: #1 Morehead State 2, #5 Eastern Illinois 1
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Photo Gallery | Postgame:
MSU,
EIU
Game 6: #2 Little Rock 4, #6 Tennessee Tech 1
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Photo Gallery | Postgame:
LR
Game 7: #5 Eastern Illinois 8, #6 Tennessee Tech 2
Box Score |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Photo Gallery | Postgame:
EIU,
TTU
#1 MOREHEAD STATE 2, #5 EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
MARION, Ill. - After a pitcher's duel through eight and a half innings, the Morehead State baseball team loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth for Roman Kuntz, who came through with his fourth hit of the day and second RBI single for the walkoff winner to beat Eastern Illinois.
Senior Matt Bettio (3-0) picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Morehead State (35-19). The right-hander went two shutout innings while giving up one hit, allowing no walks and striking out one. Luke Helton went seven innings on the mound, striking out four batters without allowing a walk, giving up only one unearned run on four hits.
At the plate, the Eagles were led by Kuntz, who went 4-for-5 on the day with two RBI. Colton Becker put together a standout effort as well, going 2-for-4 with a double. Junior Ryan Grabosch also contributed for Morehead State, putting together three hits in three trips to the plate.
The Eagles got on the scoreboard first, starting in the fifth inning. Morehead State got an RBI single from Kuntz, scoring Grabosch from second base.
Eastern Illinois scored an unearned run on a wild pitch in the sixth.
Morehead State rallied to walk it off and move onto the semifinals in the bottom of the ninth.
#2 LITTLE ROCK 4, #6 TENNESSEE TECH 1
MARION, Ill. - Jackson Wells showed why he was named the Ohio Valley Pitcher of the Year on Thursday afternoon in a complete game outing where he allowed just one run and the Trojans topped Tennessee Tech by a score of 4-1. Little Rock now moves on to the semifinals of the tournament and will play Morehead State tomorrow at 2 p.m.
The game started off quietly for both sides aside from two Trojan singles as Wells retired the first eight Golden Eagles hitters. Back to back hits by Tennessee Tech put them up by a run in the top of the third inning.
Neither team could make any progress from that stage of the game on the offensive front as the game blazed on, neither team would get a hit until Tyler Williams broke the stalemate in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Following a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, Little Rock finally sprang into action with back to back singles by Skyler Trevino and Noah Brewer with one out. A hard hit ground ball back to the pitcher by Christian Bernabe that was mishandled allowed for just one out at first and the Trojans moved two runners into scoring position with two outs.
Ty Rhoades then stepped up to the dish, and on the first pitch he saw laced a line drive double into the right field corner. Trevino and Brewer each came around to score to put Little Rock on top 2-1, still with two outs. Jake Wright followed and slapped a hard ground ball through the left side. Rhoades rounded third with a throw from the TTU left fielder on the way and managed to maneuver around an outstretched tag to safely reach home and extend the lead by one.
Wells struck out the leadoff batter in the eighth and after a single, induced a ground ball to third which was converted into an inning ending double play from Nico Baumbach to Trevino to Bernabe.
The Trojans added an insurance run with two gone in the bottom of the inning when Baumbach clobbered a first pitch breaking ball into the wind to left that made its way over the fence for his 14th homerun of the year.
Wells, determined to finish what he started, made quick work of the Golden Eagles in the top of the ninth inning. He faced the minimum of three batters for the sixth time in nine innings as he got two groundouts and a flyout to secure the first conference tournament win for Little Rock since 2019.
Wells was phenomenal in his OVC Championship debut, going the full nine innings while striking out seven and allowing just one run on three hits. Outside of the back to back hits in the third inning, Wells allowed just one more batter to reach safely with a knock for the rest of the game and he was immediately sent back to the bench following a double play.
Rhoades played hero on the offensive side with a clutch two out two-bagger to begin the scoring for the Trojans in the bottom of the seventh and also showed impressive hustle to score on a single the very next play.
Baumbach provided insurance for Little Rock late in the game with his homerun and was vital to the Trojans defensive effort, starting the double play in the eighth and nabbing a hard line drive that was bound for extra bases in the second inning.
#5 EASTERN ILLINOIS 8, #6 TENNESSEE TECH 2
MARION, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (36-19, 13-11 OVC) continued to roll on through the Ohio Valley Conference Championships with an 8-2 victory over the No. 5 seed Tennessee Tech Thursday evening. EIU is one of three teams remaining in the tournament.
Starting pitcher Blake Malatestinic (W, 3-5) held off the Golden Eagles to help lead the Panthers to their first semifinals since 2012. Malatestinic pitched in 5.1 innings allowing two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts, his most Ks since April 8th.
Multiple Panthers came up with a clutch RBI in the victory including a two-run home run in the fifth inning by Chris Worcester. Grant Lashure also added a two RBI double down the right field line to give EIU insurance runs heading into the final stretch.
Eastern Illinois' 36 wins is the second most in schools history and the most since the 1998 season (37). Their 405 runs scored this season are the fourth most in school history and their 558 hits are sixth all-time.
Malatestinic got off to a hot start against the Golden Eagles in the first inning. After allowing an opening single, he struck out the next three batters to get out of the inning.
The Panthers' offense stepped up in the bottom half of the first after only scoring one run earlier in the day. After a leadoff walk and advance to third by Lincoln Riley, Ryan Ignoffo drove in the first run of the game with a single down the third base line.
Nicholas Rucker then drove in another run with a double down the left field line to score Ignoffo from second. Gober went back-to-back with another RBI double to give EIU a 3-0 lead early on.
EIU's offense would load the bases in the second, but Tech would get out of trouble with a strikeout by Brody Lanham. Malatestinic also got a 4-6-3 double play to end the top of the third.
Both teams started to leave men on base in the fourth. In the top of the inning, with two outs the Golden Eagles got two men on, but Malatestinic got a foul out to end the inning. EIU also had two runners on, but Lanham ended the inning with another strikeout.
The fireworks came out in the fifth for the Panthers at the plate with their second home run of the tournament, this one off the bat of Worcester to put EIU up 5-0.
Tennessee Tech would break the scoreless drought with an RBI walk with the bases loaded by Preston Ford to cut into the lead. Colton Coca came on for Malatestinic in relief. Coca allowed just one run after a hit-by-pitch and preserved a three-run lead for EIU.
A bang-bang play at first went in Eastern Illinois' favor as Kolten Poorman ran out an infield single to score another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ignoffo then came in relief of Coca and got a 6-4-3 double play to end the seventh.
Heading into the eighth inning, the Panthers added two more insurance runs and pushed their lead to six runs. Lashure had his second hit of the evening with a double down into the corner in right field to score Lucas DiLuca and Ignoffo.
On the mound, Ignoffo picked up his fourth save of the season ending the game pitching the final 2.2 innings allowing just one hit with two strikeouts. Ignoffo also had two hits in the game while playing both ways.