GAME 1 (HTML | PDF) | GAME 2 (HTML | PDF)
NORMAL, Ill. -- The Morehead State Baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader against Illinois State on Saturday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field.
The Eagles were shut out, 4-0, in seven innings in game one, before falling by a score of 9-7 in the back half of the twinbill. With the pair of losses, MSU falls to 9-26 on the season, while ISU improves its record to 18-15.
In game one, Redbird sophomore right-hander Dan Savas (5-0) gave up only two hits en route to his second complete game victory of the season. MSU junior lefty Noah Smallwood (0-4) struck out eight, but allowed four runs on five hits.
Sophomore center fielder Duran Elmore and senior shortstop Chase Greenwell were the sole Eagles to register hits in the game.
The only scoring in the contest came in the bottom of the third, when the Redbirds jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from senior third baseman Zac Johnson followed by a three-run home run from senior right fielder Eric Aguilera.
In game two, ISU got the scoring underway with a two-RBI single from senior first baseman Kyle Stanton in the bottom of the first.
In the top of the second, the Eagles evened it up at two with a two-RBI single from freshman second baseman Trey Gross, the first RBI of his career. However, in the bottom half of the inning, MSU senior right-hander Austin Haney walked in two runs before the Redbirds added three more on a double from Stanton to bring the ISU lead to 7-2.
ISU extended its lead to seven in the fourth with a two-run home run over the center field wall from senior right fielder Eric Aguilera.
The Eagles cut into the Redbird lead in the fifth, 9-5, when senior shortstop Chase Greenwell drove in sophomore first baseman Kane Sweeney and Elmore with a triple to left center, before scoring himself on a wild pitch. They added two more in the seventh to cut the ISU lead to two, but that was as much of a comeback as they could muster.
Haney (2-2) was charged with the loss in his first start of the season, allowing eight hits and nine runs in four innings. ISU sophomore lefty Joe Claver picked up the win, his second of the season.
Sweeney went two-for-three in game two, which combined with a pair of walks in game one to extend his streak to 26 straight games reaching base. Greenwell (2-for-5) and Gross (2-for-4) also registered multiple hits in the contest.
The fourth and final game of the series gets underway on Sunday with a 2 p.m. ET start. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on MSUEagles.com.
