FRIDAY'S SCORES
Little Rock 15, @Western Illinois 7
Southeast Missouri 13, @Lindenwood 3
@Morehead State 13, UT Martin 9
Eastern Illinois 12, @Tennessee Tech 5
@Southern Indiana 5, SIUE 1
LITTLE ROCK 15, WESTERN ILLINOIS 7
MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois bats came out swinging as WIU plated five runs in the first three innings before Little Rock took control with seven unanswered runs en route to a 15-7 win on Friday night. WIU moves to 11-31 on the season and 6-13 in Ohio Valley play.
After surrendering a run in the top half of the first inning, Adam Juran got the offense rolling with a leadoff single. Cesar Franco followed, sending a line drive through the right side of the infield as WIU put their first runner in scoring position. Liam Bushey took no time driving Juran in as he flew a ball into the left-center gap for an RBI double. Franco advanced to third on the hit. J.R. Heavilin kept the threat on the basepaths as a pitch hit him to load the bases. Kyree Alexander led WIU with a sacrifice fly that brought in Franco.
WIU's offense stayed quiet in the second inning as Little Rock added a pair of runs in the top half and more in the top of the third, leading 4-2. Western Illinois got their leadoff hitter on base as J.R. Heavilin sent a rocket off the left field wall for a double. A ground out followed by a Chris Hege walk put two runners on base with one out. A fielder's choice prompted the Leathernecks to find a little two-out magic. A single to center field by Trevor Leon started the two-out rally as WIU cut the deficit to one at 4-3. Juran stayed red hot at the plate, lining a ball down the left field line for a two-RBI double as WIU found their way back in front 5-4.
Little Rock blew the game open in the fourth and fifth innings, striking for a combined seven runs as they led 11-5 halfway through. WIU got a run back in the fifth as bright base running on a failed pick-off attempt led to Brock Lummus coming to score.
Western Illinois bats went quiet later in the game as Little Rock added four insurance runs, heading to the bottom of the ninth, ahead 15-6. WIU scratched a run across late. Hege went to the opposite field while driving in Bushey, and WIU fell 15-7.
Three Leathernecks had multi-hit days. Adam Juran had two hits and hit his fourth extra-base hit in the last two games. Cesar Franco and Trevor Leon also had two hits. Chris Hege reached base three times, drawing two walks and a single. J.R. Heavilin was also reached base three times getting hit by two pitches and an RBI single.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 13, LINDENWOOD 3
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - LHP Haden Dow (4-1) picked up his fourth win of the season in a 13-3 victory on Friday afternoon as Southeast Missouri (23-23, 11-8 OVC) defeated Lindenwood (14-31, 7-12 OVC) in game one of the weekend series.
Dow, making his 13th start of the season, tossed 8.0 innings on Friday afternoon allowing just three runs on seven hits. He struck out six Lions in the outing, finishing the start with a 3.38 ERA.
Offensively, SEMO was on fire as Brooks Kettering, Ben Palmer, and Michael Mugan all finished with a multi-hit game as the top three in the batting order combined for seven of SEMO's 12 hits.
Second baseman Brooks Kettering led off the contest with a home run to right field. The blast was his fourth of the season and put the Redhawks in front early on.
An RBI groundout by designated hitter Kenoi Coloma gave SEMO a 2-0 lead after the second inning.
Both SEMO and Lindenwood would score a run in the third inning, but that was all for the Lions as SEMO exploded for eight unanswered runs.
Three-straight singles to start the fifth inning by Keoni Coloma, Nolan Ackerman, and Brooks Kettering loaded the bases. A wild pitch would push across the fourth run of the game for SEMO.
Mugan would record an RBI two batters later as he singled to center field to score Ackerman and the Redhawks led 5-1.
An RBI sacrifice bunt by Ty Stauss would score the sixth run of the game as he executed the safety-squeeze to score Kettering.
Third baseman Caleb Corbin recorded his sixth triple of the year to score the fourth run of the inning, and the seventh run in the game, to score Mugan making the score 7-1 after the fifth inning.
Dow continued to keep LU off the scoreboard after their third inning run as four-straight scoreless innings by the lefty would allow SEMO to explode for another four-run inning in the seventh to blow the game wide open.
Michael Mugan, Ty Stauss, and Josh Cameron all recorded RBIs in the inning to make it 11-1 SEMO after the seventh. Cameron roped a two-RBI double to the right-center field gap to score runs 10 & 11.
The Redhawks would push two more across in the eighth inning with Palmer's 13th home run of the season to left field and held on for the 13-3 victory in game one.
MOREHEAD STATE 13, UT MARTIN 9
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Starting pitcher Luke Helton was effective on Friday, fanning eight UT Martin hitters over 6.1 innings of work to help lead the Morehead State Baseball team past the Skyhawks, 13-9, as catcher Hunter Thomas also provided a huge boost with a grand slam.
In addition to his eight strikeouts, Helton (7-2) tossed 6.1 innings, giving up seven runs, all of them earned, on 11 hits and walking one for Morehead State (27-19, 11-8 OVC). Junior Will Grimmett also made an impact on the mound for the Eagles, throwing two scoreless innings while allowing one hit, with no walks and two strikeouts.
Roman Kuntz also hit his OVC leading 23rd home run and upped his RBI total to 70 for the season, also an OVC lead.
The Eagles got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the bottom the first inning with the game still scoreless. Morehead State scored twice, with one run coming across on Nick Gooden's single.
The Skyhawks failed to push any runs across before the Eagles offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. Morehead State pushed across a run on senior Ryley Preece's one-out RBI double, which brought the Eagles lead to 3-0.
Morehead State's lead had disappeared by the time the fifth inning came around and turned into a 5-3 UT Martin advantage, when the Eagles tied up the game at five. The Eagles added two to their tally on senior Ryan Grabosch's two-run homer to left.
The game stayed tied until the very next inning, when Morehead State got rolling again on offense. The Eagles scored five runs in the inning, highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of junior Hunter Thomas, bringing the score to 10-5 in favor of Morehead State.
UT Martin got within 10-8 until the Eagles scored again in the seventh inning to stretch its lead to 13-8. UT Martin put one run on the scoreboard before the game was over, but the Eagles still coasted to the 13-9 win.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 12, TENNESSEE TECH 5
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Illinois baseball team (15-26, 9-10 OVC) picked up a series opening road win over Tennessee Tech (26-20, 10-9 OVC) on Friday afternoon. The Panthers used a strong outing from starting pitcher Casey Perrenoud and a pair of big offensive innings to trounce the Golden Eagles 12-5.
Dylan Drumke wasted no time getting Eastern on the board with a lead-off home run to left center in the top of the first inning. It was Drumke's team-leading 14th long ball of the season.
Tech responded in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Preston Ford, but Casey Perrenoud was able to work out of a bases loaded jam to prevent the Golden Eagles from taking an early lead.
The next four innings were all about the pitching, as Perrenoud and TTU's Landon Smiddy combined to allow just two hits and no runs. Entering the sixth inning, Drumke's solo homer remained the Panthers' only hit of the ball game.
The Eastern offense finally broke out of its trance with a Grant Lashure lead-off single in the sixth inning, and after a Tyler Castro sacrifice bunt and Dylan Drumke single, Eastern quickly had runners on the corners.
With two outs, Lucas Loos delivered his 19th double of the season to drive in both Lashure and Drumke and give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.
In the next at-bat, a throwing error by the Tech third baseman allowed Cole Gober to reach and advance to second while Lucas Loos scored from third.
EIU immediately took advantage of the miscue with a Joey Hagen RBI single that scored Gober before adding insult to the Golden Eagles' injury with a two-run blast from Trenton Pallas.
It was Pallas' first home run of the season and gave the Panthers a commanding 7-1 lead.
With a sudden abundance of run support behind him, Casey Perrenoud continued to carve his way through the Golden Eagles' batting order as he completed his fifth and sixth consecutive scoreless innings before exiting the game prior to the eighth.
Perrenoud's final line through seven complete innings was one run allowed on six hits with six strikeouts.
After the TTU lead-off man reached on an error in the eighth inning, the Golden Eagles cut the lead in half with back-to-back home runs from Preston Ford and Tanner Shiver. However, EIU reliever Jonathon Hanscom kept his poise and retired the next three batters to keep Tech at arm's length.
With a three-run lead in the ninth, Eastern tacked on four more runs with a pair of two-run homers from Dylan Drumke and Lucas Loos before Joey Hagen added one more with an RBI single.
Casey Perrenoud (3-2) picked up the win while Landon Smiddy (3-5) suffered the loss. Over Perrenoud's last four starts, he has given up just five earned runs with 17 strikeouts through 23.0 innings pitched, and has an ERA of 1.96.
All but two of EIU's starters recorded a hit in the game as four Panthers had multi-RBI outings, led by Lucas Loos with four runs batted in.
Loos extended his on-base streak to 36 games with a double and home run.
Dylan Drumke led Eastern with three hits in four at-bats while driving in three runs, while Joey Hagen and Trenton Pallas also recorded multi-hit, multi-RBI outings.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 5, SIUE 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Baseball opened a three-game set with a 5-1 win over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Friday evening at the USI Baseball Field. The Screaming Eagles are 20-26 overall and 9-10 OVC, while Cougars go to 18-26-1, 10-9 OVC.
USI senior rightfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) gave the Eagles the initial 1-0 advantage in the first inning. Tachioka led off the game for the Eagles with a single to center, advanced to third on an error on a failed pick off, and scored on a ground out to short by sophomore shortstop Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana).
The Eagles increased the lead to 2-0 in the fourth on a RBI-double by senior designated hitter Jack Ellis (Jeffersonville, Indiana). Ellis knocked in the second USI run of the game after junior centerfielder Terrick Thompson-Allen (Sioux City, Iowa) and junior leftfielder Thomas Emerich (Ava, Missouri) walked to start the frame.
After SIUE cut the USI lead in half with a tally in the sixth, Tachioka and junior third baseman Ricardo Van Grieken (Venezuela) gave the Eagles back control, 4-1, with back-to-back singles to start the scoring in the top of the seventh. Tachioka, who is second in the OVC in hitting with a .390 average, would eventually score the Eagles' fifth run and the four-run lead on an attempted double steal with Niehaus.
The USI hurlers and defense would hold the Cougars scoreless the rest of the way and rolled to a 5-1 win.
On the mound, freshman right-hander Grant Parson (Owensville, Kentucky) picked up his fourth win of the season. Parson (4-1) went seven innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks. The freshman right-hander also struck out a season-high nine batters in the victory.
USI freshman right-hander Clayton Weisheit (Ferdinand, Indiana) finished the game for the Eagles on the mound. Weisheit threw a pair of scoreless innings, striking out a pair.