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MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State baseball team scored five runs in the eighth inning to tie Eastern Kentucky Friday, but Colonel third baseman Mandy Alvarez delivered a solo home run in the 10
th, and EKU held on to defeat the Eagles 11-10 at Allen Field.
Alvarez homered twice to push the Colonels to 7-14 overall and 2-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. MSU lost its sixth straight game and fell to 11-13 overall and 3-7 in the league.
"I was very proud of our ball club and how we fought to come back," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "I can't fault how hard we have been playing. I think we just need to pitch better and get better defense. I don't think any errors led directly to runs, but what they do is lead to extra pitches. No matter who we have out there (on the mound), making 15-20 extra pitches are a lot, and they start to hit the wall."
Morehead State completed its rally when freshman Braxton Morris singled home senior shortstop Robby Spencer and sophomore third baseman Alex Stephens to tie the game 10-10 in the eighth. Morris, however, tried to stretch his hit into a double, successfully made it to second, but was called out for being off the base afterwards.
EKU reliever Cameron Langfels sat down MSU's 1-2-3 hitters in order in the ninth, and Alvarez crushed the game-winner off junior Craig Pearcy to the deepest part of the field in left center.
Langfels, the fourth Colonel hurler, picked up the win to improve to 3-1. He pitched the ninth and 10
th frames and didn't allow a hit.
Pearcy was hit with the loss to fall to 0-3. He also pitched the ninth and 10
th innings.
The visitors grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first off MSU sophomore starter Luke Humphreys, who pitched 5.1 innings. The Eagles tied the game with a pair in the bottom of the first and a solo tally in the fourth. EKU right fielder TJ Alas kick-started a five-run rally for his team with a two-run homer in the sixth. Alvarez added a two-run smash in the frame too, and designated hitter Luke Wurzelbacher lifted a two-run clout to right field in the eighth.
Wurzelbacher and Alvarez combined for six of EKU's 14 hits.
Morehead State had 19 hits, including 13 from the top four in the batting order. Sophomore center fielder Ryan Kent and senior right fielder Brandon Rawe had season-best four-hit days, while senior left fielder Chris Robinson was 3-for-4. Morris, senior first baseman Kane Sweeney and senior designated hitter Nick Newell had a pair of RBI.
"I was encouraged by some things we did offensively," McGuire said. "If you look at their five-run inning though and compare it to how and when we scored, they got most of their runs with two outs. We got most of our hits with no outs or just one out, so we still need to find a way to get that big two-out hit."
Game two of the conference series is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. It will be Souvenir Saturday, and free stadium cups will be handed out to fans.
