Morehead State baseball battled Belmont in a doubleheader Sunday with both teams taking a game each in a closely contested OVC dogfight. The Bruins took the first game 2-0 before the Eagles edged Belmont 4-3 in the seven-inning nightcap.
"I thought we pitched it well all weekend," said head coach Mike McGuire. "We hit the ball hard in game one but just right at guys. But, I am glad we were able to persevere for the second game win. The first OVC series isn't going to make or break you in a 30-game schedule but there is a pretty big difference in being 1-2 as opposed to 0-3."
GAME 1
Freshman pitcher Landon Weins stymied Belmont for 5.1 innings, allowing just two hits and no runs, but the offense was held in check too. MSU totaled seven hits to Belmont's four, but the Eagles also whiffed five times at the plate.
Belmont scored the game's only runs in the bottom of the third as Devon Gardner's RBI single up the middle plated the first run, and a ground out on a double play scored the other.
Senior shortstop Reid Leonard and junior Ryan Layne connected on two hits each. Senior left-fielder Jake Hammon extended his reached-base streak to 35 games, but senior center-fielder Connor Pauly saw his lengthy reached-base streak come to an end at 41.
Joshua South tossed a complete game shutout to improve to 2-1. MSU starter Garret Rogers cruised through two frames but then issued three walks after and exited. He fell to 1-1.
GAME 2
MSU scored the eventual winning run on a RBI ground out by Pauly in the top of the seventh.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the top of the second as senior catcher Hunter Fain delivered a soft single to center field to score senior Trevor Snyder, who had doubled.
MSU plated another pair in the third. Leonard doubled to right field and later scored on a wild pitch. On the same pitch, Hammon motored to second. Later in the frame, Snyder sent a slow roller to third base that resulted in a hit and also scored Hammon as the ball scooted under the third baseman's glove, and Hammon beat the ensuing throw to the plate.
In the top of the fifth, however, Belmont tied the game on Jackson Campbell's three-run homer to left field.
Sophomore Will Lozinak tossed the first 5.2 innings, allowing six hits. Junior Jake Ziegelmeyer then relieved him, getting the final out of the inning on a grounder with a runner at third.
Ziegelmeyer (2-0) picked up the win, getting the final two outs in the seventh after runners reached second and third. He got a strike out and a fly out to end it.
Snyder finished 3-for-3 in the final game.
The Eagles return home to start a seven-game homestand on Tuesday versus Big 12 foe West Virginia at 3 p.m. ET.
