Baseball Battles Toe-to-Toe with Tennessee But Falls in Extra Innings

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Morehead State baseball team battled toe-to-toe with Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Tuesday night, but in the end the hosts got a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 11^th inning to edge the Eagles 4-3.
 
The Eagles slid to 32-20 on the season. The Eagles surged ahead 3-2 in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by senior Will Schneider and RBI single by junior Eli Boggess, but the Vols tied it in the bottom of the frame on an infield hit and throwing error on the same play.
 
"We pitched extremely well tonight," said head coach Mike McGuire. "We pitched a lot of guys tonight, and everyone threw well. Kyle Cantu gave us a great start and pitched much further into the game than we had expected, Cable Wright got us out of jam, and Dom Masullo did the same. David Calderon threw the ball very well, and we just didn't field it behind him."
 
Cantu tossed the first five innings and allowed just two hits and one run, on a solo homer. Calderon struck out three in two innings. Ultimately the loss was pinned on senior Luke Humphreys (2-4), who gave up a leadoff triple in the 11^th.
 
With runners on first and third and one out in the 11^th, McGuire moved Schneider in from right field to be a fifth infielder. But, pinch hitter Brandon Chinea lifted a fly ball to center field that allowed Benito Santiago to race home with the winning tally.
 
Schneider, Boggess, junior second baseman Braxton Morris and junior first baseman Tyler Niemann all collected two hits. Boggess maintained his national lead in batting average at .427. But, MSU struck out a season-high 17 times.
 
"It's hard to win on the road in the SEC because you see really good arms," McGuire said. "We had two opportunities to score with runners on third and less than two outs and punched out twice with two of our best hitters."
 
The Eagles also had runners thrown out at the plate in the 10^th and 11^th innings to end the inning, trying to advance on a double steal and a ball that got away from the catcher.
 
Morehead State heads to Tennessee Tech next for its final OVC series. One win will secure the second seed in the league tournament. Action begins with a 7 p.m. ET Thursday night game.