WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Little Rock 9, @Central Arkansas 6
@Eastern Kentucky 3,
Morehead State 1
@Bradley 5,
Western Illinois 2
Lipscomb 11,
@Tennessee Tech 2
@Lindenwood 5, Columbia College (Mo.) 3
LITTLE ROCK 9, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 6
CONWAY, Ark. - Little Rock scored in six different innings and the Trojans got some solid pitching in key moments to earn a 9-6 win over Central Arkansas on Wednesday at Bear Stadium, clinching the Governor's I-40 Showdown series for a third straight season. Little Rock (12-19) won its first series since opening the season with a three-game sweep of Evansville.
The series finale with the Bears (12-19) is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6 at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock. The Trojans have now won seven of their last eight against their in-state rivals, including four in a row in Conway.
Little Rock got on the board in the second inning and led 4-2 before the Bears roared back with a three-run sixth to take a 5-4 lead, but the hosts wouldn't lead again. Alex Seguine tripled in the seventh and cleared the bases to give the Trojans a 7-5 lead it wouldn't surrender, then added a run in each of the final two frames.
Malcolm Brown picked up his first win of the season, throwing the final 3.2 innings and striking out five while allowing just three hits, one run and no walks. Gage Haley got the start and threw three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, and Hunter Royal had two key innings of relief work. Little Rock pitchers rang up 10 strikeouts and gave away just three free passes.
Ty Rhoades, Kade Goeke and Cooper Chaplain each had three hits and Sammy Harris finished with a pair. Seguine and Harris each drove in three runs. Harris also walked twice to reach base safely four times in the contest. Rhoades, Goeke and Cade Martin each scored twice. After Seguine put the Trojans in front, Chaplain came through with an RBI double in the eighth and Andrew Pickering subbed in the ninth to deliver an RBI double.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, MOREHEAD STATE 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Morehead State got plenty of traffic on the base paths but fell to Eastern Kentucky 3-1 Wednesday night at Earle Combs Stadium in Richmond, Kentucky.
Morehead State (10-20/ 1-8 OVC) got five hits and five walks, and two others reached on EKU errors. But the Eagles stranded 10 runners in the game.
Eastern Kentucky (6-28/ 3-9 ASUN) got two runs in the bottom of the first inning on two walks followed by a two-out triple by Colonel left fielder Julius Scearce.
EKU added another run in the bottom of the third on a walk, a bloop base hit and a sacrifice fly to go ahead 3-0.
Morehead State dented the scoreboard in the eighth inning. Right fielder Alex Kean led off with a opposite-field triple to left field. Catcher Caden Sheridan drove him home with a double off the left field fence.
Morehead State starter Hunter Porter (0-2) took the loss. He threw 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on three hits, and walked three EKU batters.
Eastern Kentucky starter Elijah Underhill (1-5) picked up the win. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits. He walked five and struck out five.
EKU reliever Burkley Bounds (1) got the save. He threw four innings, allowing a run on four hits. He struck out two batters.
Senior Trevor Callahan threw 4.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen for Morehead State. He scattered three hits, walked one and struck out three EKU batters
BRADLEY 5, WESTERN ILLINOIS 2
PEORIA, Ill. - The WIU Baseball team fell to Bradley on Wednesday night by a score of 5-2. All five of Bradley's runs came in the bottom of the sixth inning after the Leathernecks had taken a 2-0 lead in the top half of inning number six.
The game would be scoreless through the first four innings as Jackson Rodgers and Karsten Stotlar would both pitch two innings each with Rodgers getting the start for WIU. The 6'3" Sophomore would face the first eight batters for the Braves, allowing only two hits and striking out one. Stotlar would then take over in the bottom of the third inning, pitching the next two innings allowing only one hit to keep the Leathernecks in the ball game.
In the top of the fifth inning, Kenneth Perez would hit a lead-off home run to left field putting WIU in front by a score of 1-0. Perez would lead the offense tonight as he went 3-4 from the plate, including two singles and a home run. The Leathernecks would add on to their lead in the top of the sixth inning when Liam Bushey and Krayton Morse would have back-to-back one out doubles to put WIU in front 2-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Braves would hit a one-out grand slam on their way to scoring five runs to take control of the game. WIU would threaten in the top of the seventh and ninth innings, but couldn't come up with a hit when they needed it.
LIPSCOMB 11, TENNESSEE TECH 2
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - In a midweek battle of in-state rivals, it was visiting Lipscomb that came out on top at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex on Wednesday evening, defeating the Tennessee Tech baseball team 11-2.
The Bisons (13-18) were a constant threat at the plate throughout the game, racking up 15 hits and scoring across five separate innings. The Lipscomb pitching staff held the Golden Eagles (21-13) at bay for much of the night, limiting the home squad to just seven base knocks.
Lipscomb opened the scoring in the second inning, loading the bases with no outs to force a pitching change by the Cookeville crew. Tech's Logan Moller was efficient out of the bullpen, inducing ground outs on his first two offerings that also plated the first two runs of the game. He gathered a fly out to finish the inning and limit the damage.
In the bottom half, the Golden Eagles cut the deficit in half, courtesy of shortstop Owen Lee. The redshirt freshman hammered a solo blast to right-center field with two outs, rounding the bases for the sixth time this season to make it a 2-1 ball game.
The visitors from Nashville took over from there, scoring once in the fourth on an infield single and three times in the fifth with a two-run home run and another infield single. Up 6-2, the Bisons didn't let up, scoring three more times in the eighth with their second two-run shot of the contest and an RBI single.
In the ninth, Lipscomb tacked on two unearned runs to move in front by double digits at 11-1.
The Golden Eagles scored once in the bottom of the ninth to finish the night at 11-2, with second baseman Eddie Garza leading off the frame with a single to right field. With two outs in the inning, rookie Landon Smelser slapped a base knock to center field, driving in Garza.
Owen Lee led Tech with a 2-for-3 night at the plate, while Moller was the lead man on the mound, accounting for 2.0 scoreless frames with just one walk allowed.
LINDENWOOD 5, COLUMBIA COLLEGE 3
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood baseball team (16-16, 5-3 OVC) picked up a 5-3 win over Columbia College (31-6, 24-4 AMC) on Wednesday night from Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
The Cougars got on the board just two batters into the game, going up 1-0. Lindenwood responded in the bottom of the second with a bug two-out, two run home run by Tyler Ellis, putting the Lions up 2-1. Charlie Isom-McCall padded the lead with an RBI single later in the inning, growing the advantage to 3-1.
Columbia College cut into the lead with a run in the fourth. The Lions answered right away with a run of their own in the bottom half when Kam Edwards doubled down the right field line to bring home Evan Funkhouser making the score 4-2.
After the Cougars scored one in the top of the fifth, Lindenwood plated one in the bottom half on a Brodie Short sacrifice fly, putting the Lions in front, 5-3. Neither team scored again on the night. Dillion Haftorson was fantastic out of the bullpen, tossing four innings of scoreless ball and allowing just two hits and earning the save.