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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Morehead State baseball team scored two unearned runs in the top of the ninth to break a tie, and sophomore pitcher Craig Pearcy notched his second save in as many days as the Eagle baseball team claimed a 6-4 win at Eastern Kentucky's Turkey Hughes Field Saturday.
Morehead State, which had lost nine straight to its in-state conference rival before yesterday's 4-3 victory, clinched the series and improved to 15-15 overall and 7-7 in the conference with its third consecutive win. The Colonels fell to 13-17 overall and 4-7 in the league.
"It was nice we jumped out to a good lead today," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "I thought we showed some very good resiliency then to pull out a win. We had good at-bats in the ninth and took advantage of their mistake."
The Eagles staked themselves to a 3-0 advantage after four innings but then saw the hosts knot the contest at 3-3 with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. MSU grabbed another cushion at 4-3 in the seventh but again saw EKU tie it up with a run in the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, junior right fielder Brandon Rawe recorded his third hit of the game with a single to right field. He moved to second on a wild pitch, and junior catcher Chris Robinson walked. Senior designated hitter Bobby Burns singled to shortstop, and Rawe scored when the EKU fielder committed a mistake.
The Eagles added another score when junior Nick Newell executed a sacrifice squeeze bunt to score Robinson.
"I thought Matt Anderson pitched well," McGuire said. "The last two nights we made a mistake or two in the field and probably shortened our starter's appearance. He probably could have gone seven innings deep if we hadn't made a few errors and extended his pitch count. But, our bullpen has been a major factor in a lot of our wins and it was again today."
Anderson, a sophomore right-hander, allowed only three total scores and one unearned run in 6.1 innings before giving way to relievers Cable Wright, Noah Smallwood, Matt Ellenbest, Dan Hyatt and Pearcy. That combo surrendered just two hits in the final three innings. Pearcy secured his team-best fifth save, while Hyatt (2-0) was credited with the win.
Logan Hershenow (0-1) allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate and absorbed the loss.
Rawe tallied his team-high 18th multi-hit game, his second straight three-hit game, and upped his season hit total to 55. Robinson went 2-for-4, while Burns and senior infielder Jeff Birkofer recorded two hits as well. MSU clubbed 12 hits.
EKU shortstop Kenny Hostrander was 4-for-4 with three RBI. The Colonels had 10 hits.
The series finale is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
