The Morehead State baseball team erupted for season highs in runs and hits en route to a 20-6 victory over Eastern Kentucky in the finale of an Ohio Valley Conference series Sunday at Allen Field.
Morehead State (13-13, 5-7 OVC) pounded out 23 hits, including eight of the nine batters in the lineup registering multi-hit days. It was the highest run total since notching 22 in the season finale at Jacksonville State in 2013.
The Eagles also won the series over EKU (7-16, 2-5) for the second consecutive season. MSU totaled 58 hits, including 20 extra-base knocks, scored 41 times and batted .457 in the three-game series.
"We obviously had a great offensive day, which was I was happy to see, but the biggest thing today was we pitched well," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "We limited the walks. We talked about how this win humbled us a bit. A few weeks ago, we got a big win at Tennessee, but then we struggled for two weeks. Hopefully this is the start of a run on the winning side now."
Freshman starter David Calderon allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings to move to 1-1. Junior righty Tyler Keele struck out six and collected a three-inning save, his first of the year.
Morehead State's top four players in the lineup, sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kent, senior first baseman Kane Sweeney, senior right fielder Brandon Rawe and senior utility player Chris Robinson, combined to hit 34-of-66 (.515) in the series and all four registered multi-hit efforts all three days.
Sweeney was 3-of-5 today with a team-high six RBI, including a three-run homer during a four-run fourth frame. Robinson and Rawe added three RBI apiece, and Robinson clubbed his third homer of the year in the midst of an eight-run eighth inning. Rawe crushed two doubles and now leads the Eagles with a .396 batting average in the 12 league games.
Senior designated hitter Nick Newell, sophomore third baseman Alex Stephens and freshman second baseman Braxton also collected three hits. Freshman catcher Tyler Niemann, who entered the day with only one career hit, launched his first career home run to drive in three in the eighth. The Eagles also pushed across five runs in the fifth.
EKU third baseman Mandy Alvarez smacked a pair of home runs and finished 3-for-5 with four RBI. He hit five home runs in the series. Rightfielder TJ Alas also went 3-for-5.
Colonel starter Chris Cervantes (0-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering 11 earned runs in 4.1 innings.
Morehead State steps out of conference play for its next six games. The Eagles travel to East Tennessee State Tuesday for a 6:05 p.m. ET start. The Bucs rallied to knock off MSU 17-14 in Morehead on March 17.
