Baseball Battles Back and Forth With SIU But Falls 9-8 in Series Opener

BOX SCORE

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Despite battling back from big deficits twice, Morehead State's baseball club ultimately fell victim to a 9-8 setback to Southern Illinois in the series opener at Itchy Jones Park Friday. A combination of early errors and too many free passes later sent the Eagles back to a 16-6 mark.

Morehead State fell behind 5-0 in the first three innings but scored two in the fourth and three more in the fifth to tie it up, only to see the Salukis (12-8) plate four in the next two frames to pull back ahead.

The Eagles made another valiant rally with a three-spot in the seventh, but had runners on in the final two frames and could not generate the tying tally.

Four combined walks in the fifth frame by Eagles Josh Baumgart (1-1) and Grant Crosby spelled trouble as the Salukis got a leadoff homer and then later scored on a bases-loaded walk and a sac fly.

Trailing 5-0, MSU scored on a pair of ground outs in the fourth. A Jake Hammon two-run double made it 5-4 in the fifth, and senior Trevor Snyder's RBI single tied it.

Later, behind 9-5, junior Dom Peroni drew a free pass with the bases packed in the seventh, and junior Arthur Sells, who was 3-for-4 today, punched a two-run single through the right side.

Besides Sells, Snyder, Hammon and senior Connor Pauly generated two hits each. Senior Reid Leonard had a hit as well to move into a tie for second place in all time hits at MSU with 273. He needs just five more to pass Drew Lee for the record.

The teams will play game two of the series at 3 p.m. ET Saturday.