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MARTIN, Tenn. – A trio of Morehead State batters had three-hit games, and sophomore pitcher Luke Humphreys struck out seven as the MSU baseball team opened an Ohio Valley Conference series at UT Martin with a 9-5 victory at Skyhawk Park Friday.
Morehead State equaled its longest winning streak since 2005 with its eighth consecutive victory. MSU is now 19-13 overall and 6-7 in the OVC with its 10
th straight win over UTM. The Skyhawks fell to 10-21 overall and 5-11 in the league.
"Luke threw the ball well," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "He did a great job of making them work for everything they got. We had a few miscues early in the field, but I thought we played some of our best defense the last six innings."
The Eagles scored four times in the second frame, put across three in the sixth and added solo tallies in the fourth and fifth to build a 9-2 lead. Meanwhile, the right-handed Humphreys improved to a team-best 4-1 by allowing just five hits and two earned runs in six frames. Junior right-hander Tyler Keele came on in the eighth and recorded his third save of the season.
Morehead State, which ranks in the top five nationally in batting average, hits, doubles and slugging percentage, totaled 15 hits tonight. It's the eighth time in the last nine games with 10+ hits.
"We have done a better job lately of putting the ball in play with runners in scoring position and competing at the plate with two strikes," McGuire added. "I think that is the key to being successful. We had some guys who normally give us better production who didn't tonight, but that's baseball. Our lineup is strong throughout and other guys stepped up and made plays. We certainly had a few opportunities to expand our lead and didn't, so we still have work to do."
Senior right-fielder Brandon Rawe upped his hitting streak to a team-best 13 games with a two-hit night, while senior leftfielder Nick Newell, senior shortstop Robby Spencer and sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kent all extended their hitting sprees to 11 contests.
Spencer, senior first baseman Kane Sweeney and freshman second baseman Braxton Morris each collected three hits apiece. Newell clubbed his team-high 17
th double of the season to drive in a pair in the sixth.
Morris plated the first run of the night with a second-inning single, and Kent added a two-run single that inning.
The home team crept back to within four on a solo home run by designated hitter Austin Taylor in the sixth and an RBI double by right-fielder Taylor Douglas in the seventh. Douglas was the lone UTM batter with double-digit hits.
UTM starter Alex Martin took the loss, surrendering 10 hits and five earned runs in five MSU at-bats.
The teams will play game two of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Live audio play-by-play will be available on MSUEagles.com and the Eagle Empire app.
