SATURDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 15, @Western Illinois 11 (11)
Morehead State 18, @Eastern Illinois 10
Lindenwood 8, @UT Martin 3
@Little Rock 7, Southern Indiana 6
@SIUE 9, Tennessee Tech 2
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 15, WESTERN ILLINOIS 11 (11)
MACOMB, Ill. - Southeast Missouri Baseball (27-24, 14-9 OVC) outlasted Western Illinois (13-33, 8-15 OVC) in extra innings on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 15-11 at Boyer Stadium.
RHP #7 Kyle Miller (4-2) made his 80th career appearance in his SEMO career on Saturday as he closed out the final three innings beginning in the ninth inning. For Miller, the appearance ties him for the most appearances all-time in SEMO's program history.
Miller pitched the final 3.0 innings, allowing just one run on four hits. He struck out two hitters in his outing.
Saturday's contest was a game that combined for 26 runs on 31 hits between the two sides as SEMO's offense was led by Michael Mugan. Mugan finished 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and four RBIs to his name.
Five different Redhawks recorded multi-hit days including the top three of the batting order in Brooks Kettering, Ben Palmer, and Mugan.
WIU got out to an early 3-0 lead with a pair of first inning home runs off RHP Sam Heyman who made the start for the Redhawks.
The Redhawks would take their first lead of the ball game in the top of the third inning, started by a one out double down the left field line by catcher Shea McGahan.
With two outs, Kettering singled to score McGahan from second base to make it 3-1 Leathernecks. Mugan's first two-run double of the afternoon tied things up as he roped a double up the middle to score Palmer and Kettering to make it a 3-3 game.
The inning wasn't over as a throwing error on WIU allowed Mugan to come in to score off the bat of Ty Stauss to make it 4-3 Redhawks.
The Leathernecks would tie and take the lead in the fifth inning. A double to right field and a grand slam gave WIU five runs in the inning to take an 8-4 lead into the sixth.
Leading off the sixth inning, Stauss was hit by a pitch. A batter later, third baseman Caleb Corbin hit his fourth home run of the season to cut the deficit to 8-6.
First baseman Bryce Cannon hit a solo home run two batters later as SEMO trailed 8-7 after the sixth.
An RBI single by Mugan in the seventh inning after a one out double by Palmer would knot the game at eight a piece in the seventh inning.
In the home half, a two-RBI single to center field off RHP Payton Lawrence gave the Leathernecks a 10-8 advantage.
Trailing by a pair of runs in the ninth inning, SEMO would not go away. Keoni Coloma led off the inning and reached on an error by WIU's short stop. A Kettering single put Redhawks on first and second with no outs.
A perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Palmer moved the runners 90-feet as Mugan stepped in and recorded his third and fourth RBIs of the ball game to tie it at 10.
In the 10th inning, Josh Cameron was plunked to leadoff the frame. A sacrifice bunt by Cannon pushed the runner up 90-feet to allow Keoni Coloma to single in the go-ahead run to make it 11-10 Redhawks.
WIU would immediately respond with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the 10th inning as the game was tied at 11 moving to the 11th inning.
Three straight walks to start the 11th would bring Cameron back to the plate as he roped a two-RBI double to score both Stauss and Mugan.
Two more runs via a sacrifice fly by McGahan and another RBI single by Coloma proved to be enough as the Redhawks held on for the 15-11 victory.
MOREHEAD STATE 18, EASTERN ILLINOIS 10
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Senior Roman Kuntz hit a pair of home runs to set the Morehead State and Ohio Valley Conference single-season long-ball record as well as the program single-season RBI mark, and fellow senior Ryley Preece hit a three-run homer and scored twice to set the OVC career runs scored record as the Eagle baseball team claimed a series win at Eastern Illinois with an 18-10 slugfest victory Saturday at Coaches Stadium.
Kuntz went 2-for-5 at the plate, supplementing his two home runs with six RBI. Kuntz now has 28 home runs, breaking the school and league record of 27 held by former Eagle slugger Niko Hulsizer in 2017. Kuntz upped his RBI total to 83, also eclipsing Hulsizer's previous single-season standard of 82 set in 2017.
Preece, who already set the program single-season runs scored record, touched home plate twice to up his career total to 242. He broke Bert Smith's (Jacksonville State 2006-10) old mark of 241. He now has 19 home runs. Morehead State launched six home runs on the day, moving the season total to 116.
Senior Colton Becker led the offense, which produced 16 hits, with four. He also stole two more bases, tying for second place on the MSU single-season chart now with 27 successful swipes.
Freshman Hayden Robbins added to Kuntz's awesome power-hitting performance by going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Nick Gooden also chipped in for the Eagles, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Logan Castleman added his eighth homer of the year.
Joe Rotkis (2-1) picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Morehead State (30-20, 14-9 OVC). The right-hander went 4.2 innings, giving up six runs, all of them earned, on 12 hits, allowing no walks and striking out five. Starter Carter Owens pitched the first four and struck out a career-high six batters.
LINDENWOOD 8, UT MARTIN 3
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Lindenwood baseball team (15-35, 8-15 OVC) picked up an 8-3 win in game two against UT Martin (20-30, 12-11 OVC) by a score of 8-3 on Saturday afternoon from Martin, Tenn.
Lindenwood got the scoring started early with a pair of runs in the first. After back-to-back hits from Colin Shea and Dawson Hokuf, Filip Sarota kept the line moving with a double that brought home Shea. Hokuf touched the plate after a sac fly from Anthony Stellato as the Lions took a 2-0 lead. The black and gold scored four more in the second with RBI's from Kam Edwards and Hokuf, pushing the score to 6-0.
UT Martin pulled on back in the bottom half, making the score 6-1. Lindenwood added two more in the sixth as a clutch two-out hit from Shea drove in Evan Funkhouser and Bryson Arnette, pushing the score to 8-1. On the mound, Zach Buschschulte went seven innings, giving up just one run while striking out two. The seven innings tied a season high.
The Skyhawks added two in the eighth, cutting the deficit to 8-3. That's as close as the Skyhawks would get with Easton Rakers finishing off a scoreless ninth, giving Buschschulte the win.
LITTLE ROCK 7, SOUTHERN INDIANA 6
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock Trojans complete the comeback win over Southern Indiana behind a walk off 2 RBI double from Luke Pectol to claim the final home series of the 2024 campaign. The Trojans keep sole possession of first place heading into the series finale.
Little Rock jumped out to an early lead by way of a 4-run inning to open the game. It all started with Jake Wright hitting a lead off double to right field. Luke Pectol then got on base by way of a 4-pitch walk setting up Nico Baumbach with 2 runners on and no outs. Baumbach smoked one over 350 feet to centerfield for a 3-run home run. Tyler Williams followed with a triple to center field. This set up an RBI single to center field for Ben Harmon. The Trojans ended the inning with 4 hits and 4 runs.
It would be pretty quiet for both sides until the top of the fourth when USI got their first hit and posted a series of 2-out RBI singles to cut the lead to just 1. The Screaming Eagles replicated their fourth inning in the fifth with another 3-run inning to take the lead 4-6.
It seemed all the momentum had evaded the Trojans heading into the final stretch of the game. That was until the bottom of the eighth. Luke Pectol started it off with a single to right center. Nico baumbach moved him over to second behind a single of his own to left field. With Pectol in scoring position, Christian Bernabe continued his hot streak with an RBI single to cut the deficit in half heading into the ninth.
The scene was set for the Trojans heading into the ninth inning. Austin Stubber set the tone with a much needed shut down inning. In the home half of the inning, Noah Brewer took a pitch on the shoulder to get on base. Andrew Pickering entered as a pinch runner. With one out and a runner on first, Alex Seguine singled through the left side to put Pickering in scoring position. The captain Jake Wright then stepped to the plate and advanced Pickering to third from a fly out to right field. It was time for the hometown kid, Luke Pectol, to hit with 2 outs and runners on third and first. After taking a ball, Pectol sent one to the wall for a walk off 2 RBI double.
SIUE 9, TENNESSEE TECH 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE baseball earned a senior day win Saturday at Roy E. Lee Field, defeating Tennessee Tech 9-2, to even the three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at a game apiece.
The Cougars improved to 11-12 in OVC play and 19-30-1 overall. Tennessee Tech is 13-10 in the league and 29-21 overall.
Garrett Helsel allowed just two runs over a career-high six innings to even his record at 2-2. He struck out three in the win.
Jacob Kampf completed the day with three scoreless innings in relief to earn his first save of the season. He allowed just two hits and struck out one.
The Cougars broke a 2-2 tie with a four-run seventh inning. SIUE took advantage of a pair of Tennessee Tech errors in the inning. Zack Floyd drove home two with a single. Two hits and two more Tennessee Tech errors allowed the Cougars to score twice in the seventh. John Stallcup and Mack Mitchell each had RBIs in the inning. Chase Bloomer tripled off the right field fence to score Ethan Willoughby in the eighth inning for the final tally.
SIUE took a first inning lead when Lucas Spence bounced a double over the right field fence and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Niedzwiedz.
After a Golden Eagle run in the top of the third, Niedzwiedz made it 2-1 Cougars in the bottom of the inning with his team-leading ninth home run of the year to right. TTU scored a run on a pair of hits in the fourth to tie the score 2-2.
Peyton Calitri (7-2) suffered the loss allowing six runs, five earned, on nine SIUE hits. It is only the third time in 13 starts that Calitri had given up at least five earned runs in a game. SIUE's nine hits are the most Calitri has allowed this year.
Offensively, the Cougars got three-hit days from Ethan Willoughby and Zack Floyd. Floyd added a pair of RBIs.
SIUE did not commit an error and the Cougars turned three double plays in the game.