BOX SCORE
MARION, Ill. – A late rally by Eastern Kentucky spelled doom for the Morehead State baseball team Wednesday as the Colonels topped MSU 4-1 in the first round of the OVC Tournament at Rent One Ballpark.
The Eagles (37-20) fell into the consolation part of the bracket and will either play Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET versus Murray State or on Thursday at 8 p.m. against either Murray State or UT Martin. The Eagles will have to win five straight games without a loss to keep their season moving ahead.
"(Junior pitcher) Dalton (Stambaugh) pitched really well, and this was a tough, tough loss," said head coahc
Mike McGuire. "We had some miscues defensively early in the game that didn't cost us runs but did cost us pitches. One of things we talked about before the game was we have to scratch and claw for every base. We got picked off second base late in the game with no one out, and we missed a sign with a runner on and no one out in the first inning and get thrown out stealing. So those were just a couple of mistakes that hurt our scoring opportunities."
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when sophomore third baseman
Stephen Hill belted an RBI double down the left-field line to score senior left-fielder
Jake Hammon all the way from first base.
Two innings later, EKU's leadoff man Will Johnson smacked a game-tying home run out over the wall in left field.
Logan Thomason gave the Colonels the 2-1 advantage with a one-out solo homer in the top of the ninth. Johnson's two-run double tacked on the final tallies in the top of the ninth.
MSU did put the tying run at the plate with two on in the bottom of the ninth before closer Aaron Oschenbein thwarted the comeback effort for his 10th save.
The Eagle starter Stambaugh (7-4) struck out nine batters in 8.1 frames but was stung with the tough-luck loss. EKU reliever Jacob Abbott collected the win, tossing two innings after Will Brian started and allowing two hits.
Hammon and Hill each collected two hits for the Eagles.
"We have to win it the hard way now, but I feel there is no better club to do it than us," said McGuire. "Our pitching staff is very deep, and I feel like we have the best opportunity to have success out of the loser's bracket's than other teams."
