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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Senior right fielder Brandon Rawe homered twice, senior catcher Chris Robinson recorded four hits and four runs and sophomore right-hander Luke Humphreys tossed a career-best eight innings of four-hit ball as the Morehead State baseball team defeated Eastern Illinois 15-2 Friday for its 12
th straight home win.
Morehead State, which has not dropped a home contest since March 27, improved to 29-17 overall, 14-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 13-4 at Allen Field. Morehead State has equaled its 2014 win total and is now just two wins shy of tying the 2014 club's school-record 16 league victories. Eastern Illinois, which had won 10 of 16 since an 0-23 start, fell to 10-30 overall and 6-16 in the league.
The Eagle offense, leading the nation in batting average and ranked second in hits, tied its season high with 23 hits in 49 plate appearances. Eight of the nine hitters in the lineup recorded multi-hit games, and the top four in the batting order scored 12 of the 15 runs. Morehead State now has 28 double-digit hit totals in 2015.
Humphreys, meanwhile, worked his longest career outing to improve to a team-best 6-2. He retired 10 consecutive batters prior to exiting and sat down 16 of the final 17 Panther batters he faced. Senior righty Blake Smith got two strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning as the Eagle duo retired the final 13 EIU hitters in order.
"We played great in all three phases of the game today, and it started with an excellent outing by Luke," Head Coach Mike McGuire said. "We are really not an easy out one through nine, and once again hitting was contagious today."
Robinson, who has five career four-plus hit games, was 4-for-5 with an RBI triple, his team-best fifth three-bagger. The OVC leader in runs scored crossed the plate four times. Rawe, who now leads the team with 10 round-trippers, belted a solo homer to right centerfield in a five-run first inning and capped his three-hit day with a two-run smash down the left field line in the eighth.
Senior first baseman Kane Sweeney, senior leftfielder Nick Newell and senior designated hitter Clayton Meyer finished with three hits. Sweeney, who extended his reached-base streak to 23 games, drilled his ninth homer of the year in the first frame. Meyer now has eight hits in his last three outings, and Newell added to his school single-season record for doubles with his 24
th.
Sophomore center fielder Ryan Kent produced a pair of singles to up his reached-base streak to a team-high 25 games. Senior shortstop Robby Spencer and freshman first baseman Braxton Morris had two hits each.
Jake Johansmeier surrendered eight runs in just two innings to take the loss and fall to 2-5. Right fielder Caleb Howell collected two of the Panthers' four hits.
Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. ET Saturday. The game can be seen live for free on the Ohio Valley Conference Digital Network.
