SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 10-6, @Morehead State 4-9
@Tennessee Tech 7-9, SIUE 5-7
UT Martin 7, @Lindenwood 5
Little Rock 14, @Southern Indiana 10
@#22 Kansas State 12,
Southeast Missouri 5
EASTERN ILLINOIS 10-6, MOREHEAD STATE 4-9
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State baseball team split the series-ending doubleheader vs. Eastern Illinois on Saturday, taking the series win and moving to 12-6 in the OVC.
In game one, Colton Becker went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI for the Morehead State Eagles in a 10-4 loss to the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Saturday.
Riley Bradshaw (1-2) came out of the bullpen for Morehead State (28-18, 11-6) and took the loss. The southpaw went 3.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits, allowing two walks and striking out two.
Becker led the way offensively for the Eagles, going 2-for-3 in the ballgame with a home run, a walk and two RBI. Junior Roman Kuntz provided a standout day at the plate as well, going 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. Freshman Carter Owens also helped out, going 1-for-3 for Morehead State with a double and a walk.
Trailing 2-0, the Eagles first put runs on the board in the first inning. Junior Jackson Feltner came across to score the lone run of the inning for Morehead State and get them on the board.
The Panthers expanded their lead to 3-1 before the Eagles offense got back to work, tying it up in the fourth. Morehead State scored twice on Becker's two-run homer, which evened the score at 3-3.
Eastern Illinois busted up the tie and grabbed a 9-3 lead heading into the eighth, when Morehead State closed the gap to 9-4. The Eagles scored a run on Kuntz's leadoff home run off senior Ryan Ignoffo. The Eagles were unable to get any closer, as Eastern Illinois added one run to their tally on the way to a 10-4 final.
In game two, Morehead State received contributions from every part of their lineup, as all nine starters reached base safely, helping the Eagles put nine runs on the board and defeat the Eastern Illinois Panthers 9-6 Saturday.
Senior Joe Rotkis (6-1) got the win for Morehead State (29-18, 12-6). The right-hander went five innings, giving up two runs, both of them earned, on six hits, allowing two walks and striking out one.
At the plate, the Eagles were paced by Nick Gooden, who went 2-for-4 on the day with two doubles and an RBI. Carter Owens put together a noteworthy day at the dish as well, going 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Carter Sakamoto also contributed for Morehead State, putting together one hit in four trips to the plate while adding a home run and an RBI.
The Eagles were trailing 1-0 in the first inning when they first put runs on the board. Morehead State's offense started clicking and put up five runs, including a one-run single off the bat of junior Kyle Bartman.
The Eagles then held the Panthers scoreless before expanding their lead in the fourth inning. Morehead State picked up a run on Sakamoto's one-out solo home run off of junior Jackson Nichols, which brought the Eagles lead to 6-1.
Eastern Illinois narrowed Morehead State's lead to 6-2 before the Eagles stretched the advantage to 7-2 in the fifth inning.
Morehead State held the Panthers scoreless before their offense got things moving the next inning. Sakamoto's solo shot provided the lone run of the inning for the Eagles, bringing the score to 8-2 in favor of Morehead State.
Eastern Illinois got within 8-3 until the Eagles scored again in the seventh inning to stretch its lead to 9-3. Morehead State picked up a run on Owens' one-out solo home run off of junior Colton Coca. Eastern Illinois put three runs on the scoreboard before the game was over, but the Eagles still held on for the 9-6 win.
TENNESSEE TECH 7-9, SIUE 5-7
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Strong pitching efforts and continued offensive success led the Tennessee Tech baseball team to a huge, doubleheader sweep of Ohio Valley Conference rival SIUE Saturday, as the Golden Eagles (17-27, 8-10) completed a 3-0 weekend over the Cougars (24-22, 7-11) to catapult to fifth in the league standings.
The purple and gold kicked off the day with a 7-5 victory over the visitors from Edwardsville, Ill., and followed it up with a 9-7 win in the second contest, earning its first series sweep of the season. Tech piled up a whopping 25 hits on the day and received a plethora of clutch pitching.
In the first game of the day, SIUE opened the scoring with a two-run home run for the second straight day. The Golden Eagles were quick to respond, with shortstop Troy Baunsgard clobbering a lead-off bomb to left field on the second pitch. It marked his eighth of the year and cut the deficit in half.
Later in the frame, catcher Hayden Gilliland ripped an RBI single through the left side, driving in left fielder Austin Turner from second base. The outfielder singled earlier in the frame and stole second base to set up the game-tying hit.
In the third, first baseman John Dyer continued his incredible tear, blasting his 10th long ball in as many games out to deep left field to give Tech the lead. It represented the senior's 18th of the year and 42nd of his career.
The Cougars squared things up in the fifth with a lead-off long ball, but TTU hurler Brock Smith dug deep and orchestrated back-to-back strikeouts to escape a jam with runners on second and third. The Tech offense made sure to have the southpaw's back, taking back the lead in the bottom half to secure his second win of the season. Smith ended the day with five innings pitched, four hits allowed, four runs allowed, six walks, and five strikeouts.
Center fielder Nicho Jordan opened the clutch frame for the purple and gold with a base knock to right field and Baunsgard followed with a walk. Turner laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them over and Jordan scored later in the frame on a balk to retake the lead. Two batters later, Gilliland made it a 5-3 ball game with a sacrifice fly to left field.
SIUE picked up a run in the sixth to cut the Tech lead to two, but the home squad fought back with two more in the bottom half. With runners on first and second and two outs, third baseman Peyton Mills blooped a ball out to shallow right field that found grass and drove in a pair for a 7-4 advantage.
The visitors managed one more run in the seventh, using another lead-off dinger to make it a 7-5 contest. With one out and runners on first and second, senior Colt Taylor took over on the mound for the Cookeville crew and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. The right-hander flipped the script two pitches later, inducing a ground ball up the middle that Baunsgard grabbed, stepped on second base, and fired a pellet to Dyer at first for an inning-ending double play.
Taylor worked a scoreless eighth, working around a one-out walk to keep the Tech win alive. With the potential, game-tying run at the plate, the sidewinder turned in back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the frame.
After earning his third save of the season with three innings of masterful work on Friday, Jacob Morin answered the call again for the Golden Eagles in the ninth. The right-hander struck out the first batter he faced before inducing a pair of fly balls to the outfield to lock down the win. He earned his fourth save of the year with the clean inning.
All nine of Tech's batters recorded at least one hit in the contest, with Theo Bryant IV and Turner leading the way with two each. Jordan, Baunsgard, and Turner each scored a pair of runs while Mills and Gilliland both tallied two RBI.
It was déjà vu again to start game three of the series, as the Cougars kicked things off with a two-run jack for a 2-0 lead in the first inning. It took a little longer the previous two tilts, but the Golden Eagles did provide a response, scoring in the second on a lead-off tank off the batter's eye in center field by Gilliland, his sixth of the year.
The Cougars picked up another run in the third to move out front 3-2, but Tech starter Tyler Zarella limited the damage to give his offense time to give him room to work. The purple and gold did just that in the bottom half, exploding for a five-spot.
Jordan led things off with a base knock and moved to third on a single down the left-field line by Baunsgard. Thanks to a throwing error by the SIUE left fielder, Jordan scored on the same play to cut the deficit to one. Turner squared things at 3-3 two pitches later, blistering a double down the first-base line to drive in Baunsgard.
Far from finished, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases to set up Gilliland for an RBI, bloop single down the left-field line and the lead. Designated hitter Preston Ford made it a 5-3 advantage with an RBI groundout off the Cougar hurler and second baseman Eddie Garza added one more to the tally with a sac fly to right field.
In the fifth, the TTU crew plated an insurance run on an RBI ground ball by Bryant, turning in a 7-3 lead. SIUE finally chased Zarella in the sixth, scoring once before rookie reliever Brody Lanham ended the scoring threat. Zarella picked up his third win of the season behind five and one-third frames on the hill, allowing just one earned run, four total runs, and one walk with five strikeouts.
Tech added two more key markers to the scoreboard in the sixth, with Dyer extending his hitting streak to 16 games with an RBI double down the left-field line. Gilliland accounted for the second ribbie, plopping a single into left-center field for a 9-4 advantage.
The visitors managed a solo shot in the eighth and a two-run jack in the ninth to trim the Golden Eagle lead to a pair, but Lanham closed things out down the stretch, inducing a foul out and two flyouts to secure his third save of the season and complete the sweep for the purple and gold.
UT MARTIN 7, LINDENWOOD 5
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team claimed a 7-5 victory in Game 2 of the series.
Junior centerfielder Caleb Hobson stole three bases in the first two games of the series, moving his season total to an OVC-best 31 swipes. That shatters the school’s NCAA Division I record for most stolen bases in a single season, passing former MLB Draft pick Trey Karlen (30 in 2010).
On the pitching side, junior lefty Tristan Walton (4-5) his fourth quality start of the season in Game 2, tying a career-high with seven innings pitched. J. Henry Hobson tied for the team lead with his third save with a scoreless frame out of the bullpen.
Walton was strong once again and was rewarded with a victory after the UT Martin offense put up a five-spot in the top of the seventh.
Walton stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, allowing the Skyhawks to take the first lead of the game an inning later. Culumovic singled up the middle with one out and advanced to third on back-to-back singles off the bats of Danford and Bell. He then came into score on a wild pitch to give UT Martin a 1-0 advantage.
Lindenwood got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second but Walton settled in from there. The Clay, Ala. native buzzed through the Lion lineup in the third, conceding just a harmless two-out single. He then retired the side in order in the fourth and worked around a leadoff single to tally another shutout frame in the fifth.
After two quick outs to begin the bottom of the sixth, a pair of errors on the same play led to two runs for Lindenwood, taking a 3-1 lead in the process.
That lead was very short-lived as the Skyhawks erupted for five runs in their next at-bat. Rice led things off with a double while Hobson followed with a single and stolen base to put the tying runs in scoring position. Those two scored on back-to-back RBI fielder’s choices from Fernandez and Smith as those two also reached base on both plays. Danford then came through with the big blow, pulverizing an opposite-field three-run jack to right field to nudge UT Martin ahead 6-3.
Walton came back out for the seventh and was responsible for another scoreless frame, thanks in large part to yet another outfield assist at the plate from Smith.
The Lions scored two runs in the eighth but the Skyhawks added a pivotal insurance run in the top of the ninth. McLean had an RBI single to plate Smith, who singled and stole second base with one away.
LITTLE ROCK 14, SOUTHERN INDIANA 10
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Five lead changes occurred in the first 3.5 innings of play, but Little Rock eventually settled in and pulled away in high scoring affair Saturday afternoon, beating the Screaming Eagles by a final of 14-10. The win improves the Trojans record to 27-17 on the season to go along with a 12-5 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play.
The offense started off hot as the first four Trojans reached base, three reaching via hit, and RBI singles up the middle from Nico Baumbach, Luke Pectol and Ty Rhoades gave Little Rock a quick 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning ended.
Southern Indiana would battle back to take the lead for themselves in the bottom of the frame, with runs scoring on a two RBI single, fielder's choice and a double. Little Rock was able to cut down a fifth run at the plate on a double cut relay from Pectol to Alex Seguine to Jake Wright at the dish.
Little Rock struck for another trio of runs in the top of the second for a third lead change and did it all with two outs. Seguine came home on a sac fly off the bat of Skyler Trevino before Christian Bernabe went the other way with a single to right, plating Baumbach and Pectol to put the Trojans on top 6-3.
Tyler Williams gave the Trojans another two out RBI with a single through the six hole that brought Wright home and the Little Rock lead was stretched out to four.
The first three USI batters reached base to load them up to begin the bottom of the third which caused the Trojans to go to the bullpen for Jacob Weatherley. Five runs would cross the plate in the inning in a variety of different ways for the Screaming Eagles last lead of the day.
Three hits and a pair of USI errors led to four Trojan runs and the lead for good in the top of the fourth inning as Rhoades picked up an RBI on a groundout and Seguine an RBI on a single that scored Wright before the inning was finally ended and Little Rock led 11-9.
Weatherely then went on a streak that lasted the next five innings where he did not allow a Southern Indiana batter to reach base, retiring 17 in a row with some help from the defense as he struck out just two batters.
Jaxson Anderson and Wright each singled to begin the sixth before a sac bunt by Seguine moved them into scoring position. The next batter, Williams sent a double down the right field line that scored them both to put Little Rock back up by four.
The Trojans final run of the day came in the top of the eighth when Nico Baumbach hit a single up the middle that scored Williams from third, his fourth hit of the afternoon.
The consecutive batters retired streak finally ended in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff walk drawn by USI. Southern Indiana would go on to score one run on a fielder's choice, but a fly out and 5-3 ground ball ended the game without any more runners getting on base. Weatherley had retired 20 of the final 22 Screaming Eagles hitters to earn the win and clinch the series for Little Rock.
At least one Trojan batter reached in each of the nine frames and Little Rock scored in two thirds of its turns at bat, plating runners in six out of the nine innings.
Six Little Rock hitters went for multiple hits on the day with three collecting three or more hits, however only three of today's 19 hits went for extra bases as Williams doubled twice and Baumbach once.
Wright scored three times today in a 1-for-5 game that also saw him steal two bases, bringing his season total to 11 which is second best on the team.
Baumbach and Bernabe each collected four hits as both went 4-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs, Baumbach scored twice while Bernabe crossed the plate once.
Williams went 3-for-5 on the day with a pair of doubles and three runs driven in, he also scored twice and made several impressive grabs out in center.
Seguine was a constant presence on the basepaths as he went 2-for-3 and walked twice, scoring two times, and driving in a run for Little Rock.
Weatherley earned his third win on the year in seven innings of relief where he scattered three hits and struck out two, at one point retiring 17 batters in a row.
#22 KANSAS STATE 12, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 5
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Recap coming soon.