GAME 1 - (HTML|PDF) | Game 2 - (HTML|PDF)
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The Morehead State baseball team allowed Eastern Illinois to rally in the conclusion of a rain-suspended game one, 9-7, before dropping game two to the Panthers, 7-2, Saturday night at Allen Field.
With the pair of loses the Eagles (15-36) fall to 9-17 in Ohio Valley Conference play, while the Panthers (19-26) improve to 8-16 in league action.
In the suspended game one that finished more than 24 hours after it started, the visiting Panthers erased a four-run deficit to rally past the Eagles. The teams opened the series on Friday night at Allen Field but only played into the top of the third inning before rain forced the suspension.
MSU led 5-1 as action got underway on Saturday, but the Panthers got a pair of solo homers from Treysen Vavra and 18 total hits as they scored the next eight runs. EIU erased its disadvantage with a four-run fifth-inning and added one in the eighth and two more in the top of the ninth.
MSU freshman third baseman Alan Mocahbee launched his seventh homer of the year, a two-run bomb, in the bottom of the ninth, but EIU reliever Garrison Stenger shut MSU down for his second save.
MSU sophomore pitcher Blake Smith started on Friday night, but junior hurler Noah Smallwood took over on Saturday. He was saddled with the loss to fall to 1-6 as he allowed 12 hits and six runs. EIU's Jaden Widdersheim (4-3) tossed 5.1 innings in relief of Friday's starter Jake Johansmeier and gave up just four hits and no runs for the win.
MSU senior shortstop Chase Greenwell had given his team a 5-1 lead Friday night with a bases-clearing double in a five-run second inning. Mocahbee finished with a team-best three hits, while senior catcher Drew Williams connected on a pair of hits. Sophomore second baseman Kane Sweeney drew a pair of walks to extend his reached-base streak to an OVC-long 41 games.
In game two, EIU junior right-hander Joe Greenfield kept the Eagles' bats at bay, allowing only five hits and two runs in a complete game performance. It was Greenfield’s fourth complete game this season, bringing his record to 3-6 on the year.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, plating two in the second, one in the fourth and three in the fifth.
Morehead State manufactured its only two runs of the contest in the bottom of the fifth inning, when sophomore center fielder Duran Elmore drove in Williams with a triple down the right field line, before Sweeney brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
Sweeney was injured in an earlier at-bat, and had to leave the game in the seventh, bringing his reached-base streak to a close at 41 straight games. The last time Sweeney had failed to reach base was clear back on February 26 at Louisville.
MSU freshman righty Matt Anderson took the loss in game two, allowing six runs on eight hits in five innings.
The series finale, and final home game of the 2013 season, will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. A ceremony honoring the senior class will be held prior to first pitch.
