THURSDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 5, @Murray State 4
@Southeast Missouri 9, SIUE 4
@Morehead State 8, UT Martin 2
@Tennessee Tech 5, Austin Peay 0
Eastern Illinois 17, @Jacksonville State 8
EASTERN KENTUCKY 5, MURRAY STATE 4
MURRAY, Ky. - Senior right-hander Matt Harris pitched 7.1 strong innings and senior Michael Garcia delivered a pair of key two-out hits as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team edged host Murray State, 5-4, on Thursday afternoon in game one of this weekend's pivotal Ohio Valley Conference series at Reagan Field.
With the win, second-place EKU improves to 29-21 (17-7 OVC) and remains in the hunt for its first OVC regular season title since 2000. The loss drops MSU to 23-31 (8-17 OVC).
Harris (5-5) went 7.1 innings and allowed just two earned runs on eight hits while striking out four batters to earn his first win since early April. Junior right-hander Anthony Bazzani came on in the bottom of the eighth inning and recorded the final five outs to pick up his eighth save of the season.
Right-hander Tyler Beers (3-7) received the loss for MSU, working 7.1 innings and surrendering five runs on nine hits.
MSU strung together four straight singles and plated three runs to take an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Garcia, however, rallied EKU in the top of the fourth when he smacked a two-out RBI single that scored senior Jacob Daniel and put the Colonels on the board.
After senior Richie Rodriguez plated senior Dustin Dunlop with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth, Garcia struck again in the top of the sixth, this time delivering a two-out RBI double into left center field that scored Daniel and tied the score at 3-3. The next batter, Dunlop, then gave the Colonels the lead for good when he laced a single through the left side of the infield to score Garcia.
EKU added to that lead in the top of the seventh when Daniel hit into and RBI fielder's choice that scored sophomore Sean Hagen and made the score 5-3.
That run proved to be valuable as MSU scored once in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-4. Harris and sophomore right-hander Brent Cobb combined to load the bases with one out in that frame, before Bazzani came on, allowed a sacrifice fly to Noah Zipko and then got out of the inning by inducing a fly out by Dylan Wheeler.
Bazzani then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the crucial win for EKU.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 9, SIUE 4
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri seniors Taylor Heon and Jesse Tierney combined for four hits and five RBI to carry the Redhawks (20-33, 11-14 OVC) past SIUE (26-27, 12-13) Thursday evening at Capaha Field, 9-4.
Freshman Will Spitzfaden (2-2) earned the win going 5.1 innings allowing two earned runs on five hits.
Southeast outhit the Cougars 14-7 with 13 of the Redhawks hits coming off of SIUE starter Travis Felax.
The Redhawks opened the scoring in the second inning with four runs. Tierney opened the scoring with an RBI double that was laced into right centerfield.
Heon followed Tierney with his second career home run, the round tripper to left field expanded the Southeast lead to 4-0.
After the Redhawks added a run in the third inning SIUE added a tally in the fourth and fifth innings to cut the Southeast advantage to 5-2.
The Redhawks responded to the Cougar's come back bid with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tierney once again added an RBI double, his second of the contest that scored Ryan Barnes to open up the four run frame.
Kenton Parmley added a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to extend the Redhawks lead to 9-2. Parmley's blast was his tenth of the season.
SIUE added two runs in the top of the sixth inning, but the Redhawk bullpen (Michael Patman, Ryan Kendall, Trevor Kill) allowed only two hits in the final 3.2 innings as the Redhawks picked up a key 9-4 win over SIUE that keeps the Redhawks a half a game up on Tennessee Tech for the final OVC Tournament spot.
Barnes and Derek Gibson added three hits apiece for the Redhawks. Barnes added three runs for the Redhawks.
Trenton Moses extended his hitting streak to 21-games and his reaching base safely streak to 73-games going 2-for-5 on the night with a double.
Felax (6-5) was tagged with the loss going Five innings allowing 13 hits and nine runs (eight earned). James Vasquez was 2-for-4 with two RBI to pace the SIUE offense.
MOREHEAD STATE 8, UT MARTIN 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Right-handed freshman Aaron Goe tossed his first collegiate complete game as he led Morehead State past UT Martin 8-2 Thursday at Allen Field.
Goe threw 103 pitches en route to his sixth Eagle victory. He fanned a season-high nine batters in the contest. The Dry Ridge, Ky., native is the second pitcher this season to go the distance. Sophomore Noah Smallwood accomplished the feat April 21 against Eastern Illinois.
MSU (26-25, 11-14 OVC) fell behind 1-0 in the second inning, but scored five runs in the third. The inning was highlighted by a two-run homer to right-centerfield from sophomore designated hitter Nick Duff, his sixth long ball of the season. He finished the game with three hits; a home run, double and single.
Duff was one of four Eagles to record multiple hits versus the Skyhawks. Juniors Taylor Pickens and Chase Greenwell notched more than one hit, and senior catcher Eric Bainer reached base five times on three hits and a pair of free passes.
Junior righty Alec Mills got the start for UT Martin (13-39, 7-18 OVC) and suffered his sixth loss. He pitched 6.1 innings, allowed six earned runs and 11 hits, despite fanning seven.
The Eagles added a run to their 5-1 lead in the sixth on a Duff single up the middle and two more came home in the eighth to extend MSU's lead to seven.
The Skyhawks managed just five hits in the series opener and no batter recorded a multi-hit game. Left fielder Grant Glasser added UT Martin's second run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly. He notched a double in the third.
TENNESSEE TECH 5, AUSTIN PEAY 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech's Tristan Archer came up with a big-time performance Thursday evening, as he had the Ohio Valley Conference leading Austin Peay Governors looking confused all night long in the batter's box as he guided the Golden Eagles to a 5-0 victory.
Archer, along with reliever Cullen Park, combined to hand APSU its first shutout in since April 26, 2011, as Archer struck out a career-high 13 batters in 8.1 innings to improve to 4-4 on the season.
While Archer was dazzling the Governor hitters, three Golden Eagles provided some power at the plate as Zephan Guyear, Zach Stephens and Ben Burgess each went yard as they drove in four of TTU's five runs.
Archer, and his counterpart Zach Toney, were flawless through the first four innings as they each kept the opposing hitters in check. Archer gave up three hits and walk, while Toney surrendered two hits and a walk to the Golden Eagles.
Guyear got the scoring going in the bottom of the fifth as he homered to center to put Tech up 1-0. Stephens kept the scoring going in the bottom of the sixth as he belted his 18th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Golden Eagles the 3-0 lead. Dylan Bosheers added an additional run in the inning off an RBI-double to increase TTU's lead to 4-0. Burgess added the final run in the eighth as he led off the inning with a solo-shot to left center.
While the Tech hitters were finding their grove, the APSU batters were having a tougher go of it as they had no answer for Archer as he eventually struck out all but one of the Austin Peay starters. At one point Archer stuck out seven of eight batters between the third and fifth innings, which included three strikeouts in the fourth inning.
Toney (5-3), took the loss as he surrendered four runs in 6.2 innings. Mike Hebert, Kacy Kemmer and Chuck Edlin combined to get the final four outs for Austin Peay as they allowed a combined one run on two hits.
With their 5-0 win, the Golden Eagles kept pace with Morehead State and Southeast Missouri, who each won their respective games today as well. With two games left for all three teams, TTU will have to win one more game than either MSU or SEMO to secure one of the final two playoff spots in the OVC Tournament.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 17, EASTERN ILLINOIS 8
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Panther baseball team posted a season-high 23 hits and scored a season-high 17 runs on Thursday night at Rudy Abbott Field, dropping the Gamecocks 17-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference series opener between the two schools. EIU improves to 26-25 (15-9 OVC) on the year.
EIU took an early 5-0 lead into the bottom of the second before the Gamecocks scored two runs over the next two innings to get within three (5-2). EIU added six runs on four hits and one JSU error in the top of the fifth to push its lead to nine (11-2) before the Gamecocks scored two runs in the bottom of the frame to make the score 11-4.
The Panthers continued their offensive presence by scoring four more runs in the top of the sixth, taking a 15-4 advantage. JSU scored four unanswered runs over the next two innings to cut its deficit to seven (15-8), but not before EIU added two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth to put the Panthers up 17-8.
EIU posted 11 more hits (23-12) than JSU and did not commit any errors to the four miscues recorded by the Gamecocks. Both teams left 12 runners on base in the contest.
T.J. McManus led the Panther offense, going 4-for-5 at the plate with five RBI and one run scored. Nathan Sopena added three hits, three runs and two RBI. Eight Panthers had multiple hits in the game while a total of five players had two or more RBI.
Mike Hoekstra (4-3) recorded the win, striking out four batters in six innings of work. He also surrendered nine hits and four runs. Matt Borens posted his first career save, striking out two and only allowing one run in the game's final three innings.
Aaron Elias (2-8) was tagged with the loss, allowing seven runs (four earned) and nine hits in four innings. Scott Underwood led the Gamecocks at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three runs.