Late scoring and solid pitching lifts Baseball to 10-4 win

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MOREHEAD. Ky. – Morehead State's offense plated seven runs in its final two at-bats, and senior pitcher Matt Anderson struck out 11 as the Baseball Eagles opened their series with UT Martin with a 10-4 victory Friday at Allen Field.
 
MSU, which is now 11-1 at home in 2016, improved to 20-15 overall and 7-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles have won 26 of their last 29 home contests and have now won 13 consecutive games against UTM since 2012. The Skyhawks slipped to 9-25 overall and 3-13 in the league.
 
Anderson (5-1) issued a leadoff walk and threw five straight balls to open the game, but the righthander coaxed a double play in the first, and that was an omen to his performance. He ranks in the top 10 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings and fanned 11 to go along with allowing just four hits and one run (on a ground out in the fourth) in eight innings on the mound. It was his third double-digit strikeout effort in 2016.
 
"Matt threw the ball great again today," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "We struggled a bit against their starter, but obviously we made some good adjustments, and I thought we did good things at the plate situationally today that we had not been doing recently."
 
The offense had a slow start against UTM lefty Dom Bazzani, only generating four hits in the first four plate chances. But, a three-run fifth propelled the hosts to a 3-1 cushion, and the Eagles manufactured seven hits in the seventh and eighth frames and pushed across a pair in the seventh and five more in the eighth.
 
Bazzani was charged with five earned runs and remained winless on the year at 0-8.
 
Junior centerfielder Ryan Kent and junior third baseman Alex Stephens had RBI singles in the fifth, and Stephens added an RBI triple in the eighth. Freshman shortstop Reid Leonard represented the Eagles' third run when he stole home in the fifth on a double steal attempt.
 
Junior rightfielder Will Schneider, who was a perfect 4-for-4, tallied RBI singles in the seventh and eighth, and junior first baseman Jesus Carrera drove home a run in each of those two innings with a sacrifice fly and single.
 
UTM outfielder Nick Gavello highlighted a rally attempt by his team with a three-run homer in the ninth.
 
Stephens finished 3-for-5 with three RBI as the Eagles pounded out 15 hits off four UTM hurlers.
 
The teams will play game two of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.