Baseball rebounds with 16-2 victory in EKU series finale

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RICHMOND, Ky. – Freshman Reid Leonard and Trevor Snyder, batting third and fourth in the lineup, combined for seven hits and seven RBI Sunday as the Morehead State baseball team jumped on Eastern Kentucky early en route to a 16-2 victory at Turkey Hughes Field.
 
Morehead State, which recorded a 20-hit game for the third time this season, improved to 17-11 overall and 6-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. EKU fell to 13-15 and 3-6 in the league.
 
Snyder homered for the fourth straight game, finished 3-for-4 with six RBI, and came within a triple short of the cycle. Leonard, batting third in the order for the first time, notched four hits for the first time in his career.  Seven of the nine spots in the batting order tallied multi-hit performances.
 
MSU starter Patrick McGuff only allowed two hits in the first three innings but walked six, including walking in the Colonel' only two runs. He was relieved by junior lefty Cable Wright (3-0), who struck out three in 3.1 innings for the win while lowering his season ERA to 0.47. Lefty Curtis Wilson and righty Tyler Keele tossed the final two frames allowing no runs.
 
"We got production up and down the lineup," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "I moved Reid and Trevor up in the order, and they did a great job of responding with hits and quality at-bats. I thought we had not pitched well at all really until Cable came into the game. Pat got out of the first easily, but he put himself in a jam. We have to quit walking so many batters. But I thought Cable, Curtis and Tyler came in and took control."
 
Snyder finished the week (previous five games) 11-for-19 with 14 RBI and four home runs. The Eagles also got back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning from junior third baseman Alex Stephens and junior catcher Jimmy Wright.
 
MSU bolted to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and added four more in the fourth and six more in the fifth. Junior rightfielder Will Schneider had a two-run triple in the first, and sophomore leftfielder Tyler Niemann finished with three RBI.
 
Morehead State begins a six-game non-conference road swing on Wednesday at Tennessee at 6 p.m. ET.