HTML STATS (G-1) | PDF STATS (G-1) | HTML STATS (G-2) | PDF STATS (G-2)
EMERSON, Ga. – The Morehead State baseball pitching staff recorded 34 strikeouts Sunday, including a school-record 23 in the opener, as the Eagles split the first two contests of a three-game series with Dayton at the Perfect Game Fields at LakePointe Sports Complex.
Dayton won 5-3 in 14 innings in the opener, which had been suspended in the fifth inning on Saturday night, while MSU edged the Flyers 2-1 in the second game. MSU is now 4-2, and UD fell to 1-4.
Five pitchers – junior righty Matt Anderson, freshman left-hander Aaron Leasher, senior right-hander Tyler Keele, sophomore southpaw Cable Wright and junior righty Craig Pearcy – combined to fan 23 Flyer batters in the opening game. The previous school single-game standard was 20 against Southern Illinois in 1991. Anderson sat down a career-best 12 batters Saturday night in the first five frames before the contest was halted due to heavy rain, and he now has a team-best 22 punchouts in 11 innings this season.
"It was definitely disappointing to come up with a split," Head Coach Mike McGuire. "But, at the same time, it is exciting because of the way we pitched. We have had quality starts in all six games, and we haven't even pitched everyone yet. I am confident our offense will come around. We just have to keep working and finding ways to execute. Today, our offense let us down a bit, but we were happy to get a victory."
In the nightcap, sophomore right-hander Luke Humphreys (1-0) struck out a career-best nine in seven innings and allowed only four hits while picking up the win. Freshman Seth Boyle and Wright added a strikeout each, and Wright collected his first career save.
Senior shortstop Robby Spencer, who finished 5-for-9 with three RBI on the day, knocked in MSU's two runs in the second game. His third-inning singled pushed home senior catcher Chris Robinson and senior first baseman Kane Sweeney. He was 2-for-3.
Dayton struck first, getting a second-inning sacrifice fly by Cale Dineen. The Flyers had runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames but failed to capitalize.
Charlie Dant (0-2), who recorded seven strikeouts and gave up six hits in seven innings, was pinned with the loss. First baseman A.J. Ryan notched two of Dayton's four hits.
In the first game, Dayton's Nick Gobert launched a solo homer in the eighth to the tie the game 3-3, and the Flyers got a run-scoring double and single in the top of the 14
th for the winning margin.
Pearcy (0-2), who surrendered just three hits and struck out four in the final 4.1 innings, was saddled with the loss. Mason Kutruff (1-0) worked the final two scoreless innings for the win.
Morehead State grabbed a 3-2 lead in the seventh via an RBI double by senior leftfielder Nick Newell and a run-scoring single off Spencer's bat.
Robinson, Newell and Spencer had multi-hit efforts for MSU, while second baseman Robbie Doring had a pair of hits for UD.
The teams will conclude the series with a Noon ET contest on Monday.
"The great part about baseball is that you get to play virtually every day," McGuire said. "We will learn from these games and come out Monday ready to win a series."
