BOX SCORE
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Connecting on their first home runs of the season, seniors, designated hitter
Jon Burghardt and centerfielder
Ryan Layne combined to drive in four of Morehead State baseball's five runs Sunday as the team dropped its series finale against Southern Illinois.
In the game, Burghardt and Layne each registered a multi-hit effort, collecting three and two hits, respectively, tallying five of Morehead State's nine hits in the contest. On the other side, Southern Illinois recorded 22 runs on 25 hits while taking advantage of three Eagle errors to capture the series victory.
The win improves the Salukis to 7-5 on the year while the Eagles drop to 4-6.
Morehead State returns to action Tuesday against Louisville in the team's first midweek contest of the 2020 season. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. ET.
HOW IT HAPPENED
T1: Opening the game with back-to-back singles, Southern Illinois plated the game's first run on a sacrifice fly from shortstop Nick Neville.
B1: Morehead State answered the Salukis early run with one of its own as Burghardt crushed the first pitch he saw to straightaway center for his first homer of the season.
T2: Southern Illinois reclaimed the lead using a long ball of its own in the second as second baseman Grey Epps muscled a ball over the leftfield wall to drive home two additional runs.
B3: Drawing within one run, the Eagles used a one-out walk to redshirt junior shortstop Logan Goodnight and a double of the wall in right-center from Burghardt to set up redshirt junior third baseman Stephen Hill to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly to center.
B4: Following a two-out walk and single from junior leftfielder Peyton Dillingham and redshirt sophomore second baseman Bryce Hensor, Layne hammered a ball to right-centerfield for a three-run homer—his first of the season—to give the Eagles the lead.
T5: The Salukis answered Morehead State's three-spot in the fourth with three runs in the fifth, using a single, double, home run, and defensive miscue to score and regain the lead.
T6: Behind six hits in the inning—including two-run home runs from Epps and first baseman Philip Archer—Southern Illinois hung six additional runs on the board expanding its lead.
T9: Collecting eight hits and two walks in the frame, the Salukis continued to build upon their lead by scoring nine runs in the inning behind a pair of multi-RBI hits.
NOTABLE
Striking out 10 batters Sunday, Morehead State recorded double-figure strikeouts in all three games of a weekend series for the first time since doing so against UT Martin on April 5-6, 2018.
Collecting five punchouts for the second consecutive outing, redshirt junior Cory Conway has tied his career-high strikeout total in back-to-back starts.
With two more home runs in Sunday's series finale, the Eagles have homered in three straight games for the first time since accomplishing the feat against Tennessee Tech (May 11), Dayton (May 14), and Southeast Missouri (May 16) during the 2019 season.
Swiping a bag in the fifth inning, Jon Burghardt recorded his first-career stolen base as an Eagle.
Morehead State's eight walks drawn Sunday are the most in a single game since drawing 10 against Marshall on May 1, 2019.
