GAME 1 BOX SCORE | GAME 2 BOX SCORE
OXFORD, Ohio — Senior Rebecca Butler broke the Morehead State career doubles record, junior Kayla Brill hit her fourth home run of the year, and junior Sam Woodall had four hits in the doubleheader, but the Eagles were on the short end of a pair of losses Thursday at Miami University, 8-1 and 8-4.
MSU dropped its sixth and seventh consecutive games to fall to 9-18. Miami improved to 13-8.
In the opener, Kelcey McMurray struck out five RedHawk batters and allowed just three earned runs, but the hosts used two three-run innings (in the fourth and fifth) to pull away for the 8-1 victory.
McMurray fell to 3-4 with the loss. Jessica Simpson only surrendered three hits to the Eagle lineup and struck out 11.
Woodall and Brill had doubles each, and Elizabeth Wagner singled for MSU’s other hit. Miami had five players with multi-hit games as it piled up 14 safeties off three Eagle hurlers. Meghan Mawn was 3-for-4 and Kristy Arbour totaled a team-best three RBIs.
The Eagles scored their lone run in the fifth when Brill doubled and later scored stealing home plate.
Miami scored first in game two, but Brill erased that lead quickly with a two-run home run to left center field. It marked her team-high fourth long ball of the year and the 15th of her career. The Eagles added a third run when Woodall singled to left field to score Stephanie Ettter, who had singled earlier in the inning.
MSU tacked on another run in the third. Butler smashed her 39th career double to set the school career record, and Brill lifted an RBI triple to right center to plate Butler.
Miami re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when they scored four times. The RedHawks got four singles, took advantage of two errors, and batted around. MU put its seventh tally on the board in the fifth via another MSU fielding mistake.
Ashley Imperial allowed six runs in three-plus innings in the circle and was slapped with the loss for the Eagles to fall to 5-9. Simpson tossed four innings of relief and was the beneficiary of the RedHawks’ rally to pick up her second win of the day, upping her mark to 12-4.
The Eagles will host new OVC member SIU Edwardsville this weekend. Saturday’s doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
