BOX SCORE
MOREHEAD, Ky. --
Morehead State baseball continued its upward trend in 2021 and opened the Ohio Valley Conference portion of the schedule with a 5-2 win over eastern Kentucky at Allen Field Friday afternoon.The Eagles have now won six of their last seven games, four straight, and evened their record at 6-6. The Colonels slipped to 4-8. Morehead State has now won nine straight home games in the series since 2015.
Friday's low-scoring game started out looking like another slugfest as the home team scored three runs in the bottom of the first, but then the two pitching staffs settled in for a 2-2 stalemate the rest of the way. The Colonels never led but did creep to within 3-2 in the fifth frame before the Eagles tacked on insurance in the seventh.
MSU starter Jason Goe (1-3) collected his first win of the season, fanning seven batters and allowing both eKU runs on just six hits. Senior lefty Cory Conway worked his way out of the eighth with an inning-ending 5-3 double play, and fellow left-hander John Bakke coaxed another 5-3 double play to end the game in the ninth after the Colonels got the first two on base via walks. Bakke's save was the first of his career.
The victory marked head coach Mik Aoki's first career OVC win. The Eagles had dropped the first three in 2020 before the season was canceled.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Eagles busted the game open right away. In the first inning, senior third baseman smashed his first home run of the year - a towering drive just inside the left-field foul pole. Two batters following senior Arthur Sells' hard single to right center, senior right-fielder Ryan Layne cranked an RBI double down the right-field line.
- Max Williams got the Colonels within a run in the fifth on his two-run long ball to right field.
- The Eagles scored twice in the seventh. Second baseman Bryce Hensor was hit by a Darren Williams' pitch to lead off. Freshman center-fielder Ryley Preece attempted a sac bunt that turned into a hit, and Hensor's base running awareness got him all the way to third base. He then scored on a wild pitch.
- Senior catcher Jack Gardner lifted a long foul ball down the right-field line, but it was far enough for a sac fly to score Preece.
- Conway walked the first batter in the eighth and hit the next. But he got a foul out and then the inning-ending double play started by Hill at third.
- Reliever Grant Herron attempted his third save in the ninth but walked the first two batters. Bakke, who ranks tops among relievers in the OVC in the strikeout category, whiffed the first batter he saw and then coaxed the game-ending double play started by Hill at third again.
NOTABLE
- Goe worked his longest outing of the season (7.0 innings) and longest since May 23, 2019 in the OVC Tournament. In his past two starts, he has recorded 15 strikeouts versus only four walks.
- Seven of the nine lineup spots recorded at least one hit, with Hill's 3-for-4 day leading the way. In the past four games, Morehead State has 45 hits.
- Along with Goe's seven Ks, Bakke's one gives the Eagle pitchers at least six punchouts in all 12 games this year and 15 straight now.
- Starting each of the past four games in center and batting out of the two-hole, Preece leads Morehead State in average over the team's 6-1 stretch. In his four starts—all Eagle victories—he's hit .333 (6-for-18) with a double, a pair of RBI, and two runs scored.
- Hensor upped his hitting streak to seven games, which leads the team.
- During Morehead State's last six games, the Eagles have limited four of the opponents to two runs or less.
- Freshman first baseman Jackson Feltner had another hit tonight and leads the Eagles with a .345 average. MSU is 4-0 with Feltner hitting in the 6-hole in the batting order.
- Sells and Laybe both notched two hits.
UP NEXT
The teams will wrap up the league series with a doubleheader on Saturday set to begin at 1 p.m. ET.
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March 13, 2021 at 08:50AM
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Baseball Upends Eastern Kentucky 5-2 to Start OVC Slate - Morehead State University Athletics - MSU Eagles
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