FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Western Illinois 7, Morehead State 6
Lindenwood 1, @Tennessee Tech 0
UT Martin 9, @Little Rock 1
Eastern Illinois 4, @SIUE 1
@Southern Indiana 9, Southeast Missouri 6
WESTERN ILLINOIS 7, MOREHEAD STATE 6
MACOMB, Ill. - The Leatherneck baseball team picked up a big win in the OVC standings on Friday afternoon, defeating Morehead State by a final score of 7-6. Despite committing three errors in the contest, WIU was able to fight off the Eagles after giving up a four run lead in the top of the seventh inning.
The Leathernecks would jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second thanks to a Kyree Alexander RBI double to left center field and Krayton Morse getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Morehead State would answer with a run in both the third and fourth innings to tie the game at two headed into the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, WIU would open up the game by scoring four runs on two hits, with one of the hits being a Tyler Large two run homer to left field, which was his first home run since March 21 against Southern Indiana. The other hit was a Paul Osting RBI single through the right side scoring Liam Bushey to put the Leathernecks on top 6-2 after five innings of play.
However, the Eagles would immediately respond with three runs in the top of the sixth inning. One of the key plays during the Morehead State comeback came in the top of the sixth with two outs with runners on first and second base. The Eagles would single to left field and the runner from second base attempted to score, but was thrown out at the plate by Tyler Large to keep the Leathernecks in front at the time by a score of 6-5. Morehead State would later tie the game with another run in the top of the seventh, but the play from Large proved to be critical.
In the bottom of the seventh, Matt Olive would get a one-out single to left center field and would come around to score later in the inning on an error by the right fielder to give the Leathernecks the lead at 7-6 with six outs to go. Eric Rawlings would then take over in the top of the eighth and would slam the door shut as he would retire all six batters he faced over two innings of work to pick up his second save of the season. WIU had four hits in the ball game, with Olive, Large, Alexander, and Paul Osting each having a hit. The Leathernecks also walked seven times in the game, scoring in every inning that they drew a walk in except for the first inning.
With the win, WIU improves to 8-14 in the OVC with five games to go.
LINDENWOOD 1, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Lindenwood baseball team (26-24, 13-8 OVC) shut out Tennessee Tech (32-18, 14-8 OVC), 1-0 in the series opener on Friday night in Cookeville, Tenn.
Back-to-back doubles by Tanner Simpson and Evan Funkhouser to open the third put the Lions up 1-0. Josh Newell was dealing in the opener, allowing just five hits and keeping the Golden Eagles off the board through seven innings before handing it off to the bullpen.
Bennett Stice picked up right where Newell left off, firing two scoreless innings, which included two strikeouts in the eighth and one in the ninth to earn his third save of the season. For Newell, it was his OVC leading ninth victory of the year as Lindenwood took the series opener 1-0.
UT MARTIN 9, LITTLE ROCK 1
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - For the first time in the program’s Division I history and for only the third time in school history, the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball team reached the century mark in stolen bases. The Skyhawks nabbed the record in its 9-1 win over Little Rock in Game 1 of the weekend series.
Garner Anderson (two RBIs, stolen base) and Arderrius Townsend (two runs scored, stolen base) had two-hit games while Brody Capps (home run, walk, two runs scored), Blaze Bell (stolen base, two runs scored, one walk, double), JT Popick (two RBIs, two walks, run scored), Jonah Katsaboulas (run scored, RBI), Tommy Koch (two RBIs, run scored, walk) and Cameron Greene recorded base knocks.
Jacob Sitton (3-3) threw 6.1 innings and struck out four while only allowing one run. Jeb Bartle (1.2 innings pitched, no runs allowed, no walks allowed, two strikeouts) and Kaleb Baskin (one inning, no runs, no walks, one strikeout) finished off the game for UT Martin.
Sitton worked out of trouble in the first three innings by stranding six Trojans on the base paths. Capps led off the top of the fourth with a game-tying solo shot that leveled the game at one.
The righty Sitton induced a strikeout and a 4-6-3 double play to conclude a scoreless home half of the fourth. With two outs in the fifth, Anderson singled to center field to drive in Koch for the Skyhawks (19-29, 10-11 Ohio Valley Conference) to take their first lead of the game. Sitton worked another double play and groundout to keep UT Martin in front, 2-1.
The Skyhawks started a four-run sixth inning on a double steal that scored Townsend from third. Koch drove in two on a single to right and Anderson capped off the frame on an RBI single to right field to make it 6-1 Skyhawks.
Little Rock (18-28, 7-12 OVC) fell to their third double play of the evening in the sixth which ended the sixth inning. Bartle took over for Sitton in the seventh and struck out the final two batters of the frame.
The UT Martin defense compiled its fourth double play of the night that finished off the eighth. Popick plated two on a single to right in the ninth and Katsaboulas drove in the final Skyhawk run of Game 1 on a sacrifice fly to left field which upped the score to 9-1. Baskin put the finishing touches on the victory in the bottom of the ninth by retiring the Trojans on two flyouts and a strikeout.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 4, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois baseball team (25-18, 13-6) picked up a huge win in their series opener against SIUE (23-24, 15-7 OVC) in Edwardsville on Friday night. The Panthers leaned on a pair of strong performances on the mound from Tyler Kapraun and Dalton Boruff in the 4-1 victory.
Kapraun moved his record to 5-4 on the season after allowing just one run on eight hits with seven strikeouts through the game's first five and two-thirds innings. Meanwhile, Boruff picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season, going the final 3.1 innings while allowing zero runs on three hits with three strikeouts.
Offensively, Zak Goodwin was the only Panther with multiple hits, going 2-4 with a runs scored and an RBI. Tyler Castro, Mike O'Conor, and Ethan Rossi each recorded one hit and one RBI.
After a scoreless first two innings that included a three-strikeout second from Tyler Kapraun, EIU broke into the scoring column in the third with a Tyler Castro RBI single that plated Jake Ottensmeier, who had initially reached base on bunt single before moving into scoring position on a groundout.
In the fourth, Zak Goodwin reached first base safely on an infield single before a Brett Stanley sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, setting the stage for Ethan Rossi to drive in the game's second run with base hit up the middle.
The Panthers added another run to their lead in the fifth, with Tyler Castro earning a free pass with two outs before stealing second, which allowed him to score on a Mike O'Conor RBI single to the left side.
Eastern put the first two runners on base in the sixth, but were unable to extend the lead after the next three batters were retired in order.
Following base hits from Ryan Niedzwiedz and Joshua Hyder to lead off the sixth, SIUE got their first run of the game on an Ethan Willoughby RBI groundout, but were unable to push any more runs across.
EIU immediately responded in the bottom of the seventh, with Tyler Castro leading off the frame with a walk before a throwing error on a Mike O'Conor fielder's choice allowed him to advance from first to third. Zak Goodwin followed that up with a perfectly placed bunt single to drive in Castro.
However, after a Brett Stanley sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with just one out, the next two EIU batters went down on strikes to prevent the Panthers from extending the lead further.
After Dalton Boruff retired the SIUE side in order in the bottom of the seventh, Eastern placed runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth, but were unable to capitalize after Tyler Castro was caught stealing second to end the at-bat.
Following base hits from Niedzwiedz and Franck, SIUE brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. However, a hard-hit ground ball to third base resulted in a 5-3 double play to get EIU out of the jam with no damage done.
The Cougars threatened again in the bottom of the ninth after the first two batters reached base on walks, however a pop up and fly out to shallow right kept the runners in place with two outs. Mack Mitchell kept the game alive with a single to load the bases, but Boruff got Chase Bloomer to roll into a 3-1 groundout to end the game.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 9, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 6
EVANSVILLE, Tenn. - University of Southern Indiana Baseball scored five times in the third and three times in the fifth to win the series opener with Southeast Missouri State University, 9-6, Friday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI is 23-26 overall and 11-11 OVC, while SEMO is 27-22, 13-9 OVC.
After spotting the Redhawks a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, Screaming Eagles followed by getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to 3-1. Senior centerfielder Khi Holiday scored on a double to center field by junior first baseman Cole Kitchens to get the USI offense going.
The score would remain 3-1 until the bottom of the third when the Eagles scored five times to take a 6-3 lead. Holiday scored USI's second run of the game on a second RBI double by Kitchens to kick off the offensive explosion.
USI sophomore rightfielder Cameron Boyd put the Eagles in front, 4-3, with a two-run blast to deep left center. The home run was Boyd's sixth of the season.
The Eagles would finish the five-run explosion when junior catcher Macajah Wall sent his third home run of the season over the left field wall for a 6-3 advantage. Junior leftfielder Hunter Miller scored ahead of Wall on the home run after getting on base with an infield single.
USI extended the lead to 9-3 with a three-run frame in the fifth. Junior designated hitter Charlie Marisca doubled in Miller with the Eagles' seventh run of the game, while junior shortstop Clayton Slack highlighted the frame with a two-out double for the eighth and ninth runs.
The 9-3 lead would last until the seventh inning when SEMO scored three times to close the gap to 9-6. Holiday robbed the Redhawks of their seventh run by taking away a home run from SEMO's Shea McGahan by skying over the right center wall to lead off the eighth.
The Eagles held the Redhawks scoreless in the final two frames to preserve the 9-6 victory. Kitchens and Boyd finished the game with a team-high three hits each, while Kitchens, Boyd, Wall, and Slack tied for the team-high with two RBIs apiece.
USI junior left-hander Jake Porter posted his fourth win of the season, tying for the team lead in 2025. Porter (4-4) allowed three unearned runs in the first inning on three hits and two walks, while striking out four. The junior left-hander also set down 11-straight hitters between the end of the first inning and the fifth inning.
USI junior right-hander Blake Kimball followed Porter and went three innings, allowing three runs on four hits, while senior right-hander Ian Anderson closed out the game by throwing a scoreless ninth to get his team-best fourth save of the year.