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MOREHEAD, Ky. – #J.D. Ashbrook# knocked a career-high five hits, all singles, and
Drew Lee,
Michael Bottoms, and
Cameron Flynn all homered as Morehead State knocked out 20 hits in a 15-6 win over local rival Marshall Tuesday afternoon at Allen Field.
Marshall got on the board first, when a pair of seeing-eye choppers off of MSU starter
Quentin Morgan placed two on with one out in the top of the first. Victor Gomez then lined a ball to left to drive in the game’s opening run, before Morgan induced double play ball from Josh Valle. Valle hit grounder to the left side, that third baseman
Andrew Deeds fielded as he moved toward second base. Deeds then retreated to third for one out and fired a bullet to Bottoms at first in time to retire Valle.
The Eagles responded quickly, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Ashbrook scored when Herd shortstop Kenny Socorro’s throw to first on a Lee double play ball was errant and got past first baseman Nathan Gomez.
Taylor Davis then drove in one of his two RBIs on the day, plating Lee on a single to left field.
MSU then used a five-run second inning sparked by Bottoms lead-off blast to left to ensure that they would hold the lead the rest of the day. Singles from
Travis Redmon, Ashbrook, and Lee and doubles from
Michael Fear and Davis contributed to the rally that made it 7-1 after two.
Morgan looked to be in trouble twice in the early goings as he allowed the first two batters aboard in both the second and third. The senior responded however, blanking Marshall in the second and allowing just one run in the third on the way to his third win of the season.
The Herd (13-18) pulled within 8-6 after scoring four in the fifth on the strength of a Victor Gomez three-run homer to right center, but that was as close as they would get as MSU responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Daniel Pugh drove in Redmon with a single, and then Lee sent his 11th home run of the season to the parking lot in left, to make 12-6 in favor of the Eagles.
Trey Smith blanked Marshall down the stretch, pitching four scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and striking out five to claim his second save on the year. The Herd looked to have Smith on the ropes in the eighth with runners on the corners with just one outs. Smith struck out Kurt Lipton and then got Victor Gomez to pop out to the catcher to end the threat.
Smith did get help from Redmon, when he made a spectacular diving play on a grounder up the middle to produce an inning ending force-out in the seventh.
MSU added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh, with Flynn entering double-digits in the home run column in the seventh, smacking a solo shot to give him 10 dingers on the season.
Ashbrook recorded a pair of RBIs to go with his five hits, while every Eagle batter had a hit in the game. Fear, Davis, and Lee all turned in multi-RBI efforts.
MSU improves to 19-17 on the season and now faces a critical Ohio Valley Conference series with rival Eastern Kentucky this weekend. Saturday’s double header and Sunday’s finale both start at 1:00 p.m. at Allen Field.
Game Notes: Ashbrook’s five hits tie him with Travis Redmon for most in a game this season by an MSU player and Ashbrook now has 22 multi-hit games this season. Taylor Davis extended his hitting-streak to 10 games. It was the fourth game this season MSU has tallies 20-plus hits.
