SATURDAY'S SCORES
Little Rock 8, @Western Illinois 5
@Morehead State 12, UT Martin 8
@Lindenwood 7, Southeast Missouri 1
Eastern Illinois 9, @Tennessee Tech 6
LITTLE ROCK 8, WESTERN ILLINOIS 5
MACOMB, Ill. - After winning a suspended game from Friday, Little Rock carried that momentum into Game 2, jumping out early and never trailing in an 8-5 victory.
The Trojans struck for four runs in the first inning, highlighted by Trey Hill's three-run home run, and added another run in the second on Ryan Geck's solo shot to take a 5-1 lead. Little Rock extended the advantage to 6-2 in the fourth on an RBI single by Lopez.
After Western Illinois closed within 6-3, the Trojans added two key insurance runs in the eighth. Blake Simpson delivered an RBI double, and Lopez followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 8-3.
Brigden Parker earned the win, allowing three runs (one earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings with five strikeouts. Nic Bronzini added 2.1 innings with five strikeouts, Malcolm Brown provided a scoreless outing, and Haley closed the door with a scoreless ninth, striking out three to earn the save.
Lopez paced the offense in Game 2, going 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Hill drove in three runs. Smith and Freund each added two hits as Little Rock finished with 13 hits in the game.
MOREHEAD STATE 12, UT MARTIN 8
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State baseball team pounded out 21 hits and secured the series sweep with a 12-8 win over UT Martin Saturday at Allen Field at Prefontaine Park.
Morehead State (15-16, 4-5 OVC) was led by freshman second baseman Nick Griffith who posted his first four-hit game of his career with two doubles and two singles. He drove in a run and scored three.
On the mound, Eagle starter Connor Davis (3-0) earned the win. He threw six innings, allowing four hits and two runs. Both runs came via solo home runs. He walked one batter and struck out one.
Morehead State gained control of the game in the bottom of the third inning, sending 11 batters to the plate. With the Eagles leading 2-1, right fielder Ian McCubbin led off with a single. Catcher Caden Sheridan lined a single to right to put runners at first and second. Griffith lined a double off the Big Blue Wall in right to plate McCubbin.
After Alex Kean walked to load the bases, shortstop Jaden Correa smacked a grand-slam home run over the screen in right-center to put the Eagles ahead 7-0. Third baseman Griffin Olson walked, advanced to second on a throwing error by UT Martin starter Maxwell Schumacher, and scored on Aubrey Kearns' two-out single up the middle.
Morehead State answered the Skyhawks' run in the top of the fourth inning with one of its own in the bottom half. Griffith set the table with a lined single to center and advanced to second on Kean's single through the right side. Griffith advanced to third on another throwing error on a pickoff play and scored on Olson's sacrifice fly to left to extend the Eagle lead to 9-2.
The Eagles padded the lead in the sixth; Sheridan led off with a double to deep left-center, advanced on a single through the left side by Griffith and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kean to right-center.
UT Martin plated two runs in the seventh that were answered by two Eagle runs in the eighth. Griffith drove a double to the fence in left field, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Correa's lined single to center. Olson drove Correa home with an RBI double to left to put the Eagles up 12-4.
UT Martin fought back in the ninth, plating four runs while sending nine batters to the plate.
LINDENWOOD 7, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood baseball team (14-17, 2-7 OVC) defeated Southeast Missouri (22-10, 6-3 OVC) 7-1 on Saturday afternoon to secure their first series win of conference play. It also stands as the Lions' first series victory over their in-state rivals since becoming conference opponents in 2023.
The Lindenwood bats came to life with 13 total hits in the contest, led by Charlie Isom-McCall with three knocks. Filip Sarota and Tyler Ellis also recorded multiple hits with 2-4 outings, with Sarota also driving in two runs to match Jake Radosevich for the team lead in RBIs.
Meanwhile, Lucas Niemeyer picked up his first career win after tossing five shutout innings with four strikeouts to start the game before Aaron Jungers stepped in and allowed no runs on four hits with four strikeouts through 3.2 innings of relief.
Lindenwood jumped out to an early lead with a three-run first inning. Charlie Isom-McCall led off the frame with a base hit before a Will Geary double and Jake Radosevich walk loaded the bases for Filip Sarota, who delivered a two-RBI single to left field. Tyler Ellis would drive in the third run with a double off the left field wall but would get doubled up on a line out before a strikeout ended the inning with a runner left on third.
SEMO threatened in the top of the third with two on a no outs, but back-to-back strikeouts by Lucas Niemeyer followed by a 5-3 ground out stranded both runners on base. The Lions would then tack on one more in the home half, with William Zareh bringing home a run with a base hit through the left side following consecutive two-out singles from Filip Sarota and Tyler Ellis.
Lindenwood tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, first with a Charlie Isom-McCall doubling with runners on the corners to plate Owen Ralph, who had singled, stolen second, and moved up to third on a perfectly placed bunt single by Brett Yarger. Jake Radosevich would bring in the second run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to right field that allowed Yarger to score.
Following three more scoreless frames from the LU defense, the Lions would add another run in the top of the seventh with a Jake Radosevich lead off homer to left field.
The Redhawks would score one unearned run in the ninth, with Dakota Joggerst scoring on a ground out after singling and moving to third on a throwing error on an Anthony Ramirez bunt single. However, no other runs would score as Easton Rakers came out of the bullpen and sat down the final SEMO batter on strikes for the last out.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 9, TENNESSEE TECH 6
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Illinois offense exploded in the late stages of the final game of the weekend series to beat the Golden Eagles. With the win, EIU improves to 17-11 (7-2 OVC), while TTU drops to 10-22 (1-8 OVC).
After allowing four TTU runs in the first inning, the Panthers were silenced until the late stages of the game. EIU only recorded three hits and one run until the 7th inning. James Geshel was called out of the bullpen early to keep the game within reach. Geshel threw 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits while collecting two strikeouts, improving his record to 2-2 on the season.
The Panthers rewarded Geshel by scoring three runs in the 7th inning to tie the game 4-4. EIU's rally began with Brett Stanley reaching on a fielding error by Eddie Garza at second base. Stanley advanced to scoring position with a stolen base. James Love earned a walk but was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice. Love has now reached base safely in 28 games straight. With Stanley at third and Joey Hagen at first, Mike O'Conor tied the game with a three-run homer to right field.
The offense continued their momentum into the 8th inning, where the Panthers scored five runs to extend their lead to 9-4. Ethan Rossi led off the party with a home run to deep right field. Stanley reached on a walk and then advanced to third on Chris Worcester's single to the right side of the infield. Love reached on a fielder's choice with Stanley being thrown out at home. Quade Peters collected another EIU walk to load the bases.
With the bases loaded, Eastern Illinois broke open the game. A wild pitch scored Worcester, followed by another home run off the bat of O'Conor. His third home run of the game scored Love and Peters to extend the Panthers' lead to five. O'Conor totaled seven RBIs, which is the most by a Panther in a single game this season.
Tennessee Tech threatened a 9th inning rally, scoring two runs off Anthony Solis; however, it fell short. Solis delivered a ground ball double play to secure the series' victory.
The nine total runs by the Panthers mark the 11th time EIU has scored nine or more runs in a game this season.
On the mound for EIU, Dalton Boruff was given a no-decision in his first Sunday start of OVC play, tossing 2.0 innings, giving up four earned runs on three hits. For the Golden Eagles, Carter Casabella threw 6.2 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with three strikeouts.