BOX SCORE (GAME 1) | BOX SCORE ( GAME 2)
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- A one-out, pinch-hit walk-off grand slam by senior
Jon Burghardt won game two today for Morehead State baseball, while a seven-run outburst in the seventh inning of game won led to a victory there as the Eagles guaranteed their fourth straight Ohio Valley Conference series win with 7-4 and 11-9 victories over visiting Eastern Illinois at Allen Field Friday.
The Eagles improved to an OVC-leading 8-3 in league games and to 17-12 overall. EIU slipped to 17-16 and 7-10 in the conference.
Burghardt, who also hit a grand slam at Austin Peay last weekend, entered the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth frame of the nightcap after three straight singles off EIU reliever Ryan Ignaffo and promptly crushed his first offering high over the right-field net for the walk off heroics.
The Eagles scored seven runs in the seventh frame of the opener thanks to a three-run homer by freshman shortstop
Colton Becker and a two-run long ball from freshman first baseman
Jackson Feltner.
While the Panthers still hold a commanding 52-18 lead in the series, the wins propelled the MSU program to its third consecutive series win over the Panther program since 2018.
HOW IT HAPPENED - GAME 1
- A home run by EIU first baseman Christian Pena in the second and an RBI single by the same player in the fifth had the Panthers on top 4-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
- Freshman left-fielder
Jacob Ferry led off the seventh with a single and moved to second when sophomore DH
Alex Jacobs was plunked with a pitch by starter Cameron Doherty.
- Becker smashed his first career home run on a line drive over the right-field wall to make it a 4-3 Eagle deficit.
- EIU went to the bullpen and its closer Alex Stevenson, but senior second baseman
Bryce Hensor greeted him with a double and freshman center-fielder
Ryley Preece singled.
- Senior catcher
Jack Gardner gave the Eagles a 5-4 lead on a long double to left center.
- Feltner then tattooed his fifth career homer to deep left field for the final 7-4-margin.
- Junior reliever
John Bakke coaxed an incredible 3-6-1 double play to end an EIU threat in the eighth and got a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to close out his fifth save of the season.
NOTABLE - GAME 1
- Junior
Alex Kafka (1-0) was credited with his first career Eagle win, walking two in the seventh but coaxing a line-out double-play to end the frame.
- MSU turned a season-high three double plays.
- Ferry led the offense with a career-high three hits, his second career multi-hit game.
- Hensor and Preece totaled two hits each. Hensor now has 10 multi-hit games.
- Feltner's home run allowed him to reach base for the 18th straight game and moved his hitting streak to nine games.
- Eagle starter
Jason Goe recorded five strikeouts in 6.0 innings, his sixth game this season with at least five Ks.
- Bakke's appearance was his OVC-leading 18th of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED - GAME 2
- MSU staked itself to a 3-0 lead right off the bat in the first inning. Gardner notched a two-run single and Ferry had a sac fly to shallow left when senior third baseman Stephen Hil raced home to beat a close throw to the plate.
- Ignaffo, who started the game in right field and finished on the mound, homered in the second to make it 3-2.Â
- Hill pushed the MSU lead to 5-2 with a two-run single in the second inning.
- It was 6-2 in the third when Feltner scored after a misplay on a ball at first base off the bat of Jacobs.
- EIU battled back to tie the game 6-6 in the sixth, but senior right-fielder
Ryan Layne put his team back on top in the bottom of the frame with his third round-tripper of 2021, a solo shot to right field.
- The Panthers eventually took a 9-7 lead in the seventh when Trey Sweeney lined a two-run single to left field.
- The host squad actually loaded the bases in the eighth inning too off Ignaffo but he got out of the jam with two pop outs.
- Feltner struck out to start the bottom of the ninth, but Ferry, Jacobs and Layne all singled to lead the sacks for the Burghardt blast.
NOTABLE - GAME 2
- Senior lefty
Cory Conway tied for second in career relief appearances with his 69th and worked the final 3.2 innings with six strike outs to move to 7-1. Conway leads the OVC in wins.
- Starter
Luke Helton had five Ks, and freshman relief man
Grant Herron had two, giving the Eagle staff 13 whiffs on the game, the ninth double-digit strikeout game this season.
- Layne and Becker had three hits each as MSU had 16 hits, the fifth straight game with double-digit hits and eighth in the last nine games.
- Feltner's hitting streak moved to 10 games and reached-base streak upped itself to 19 games. He ranks second in the nation in DI among freshmen in batting average, and seven of those 10 games in his hitting streak have been multi-hit games.
- EIU catcher Ryan Knernshield led all players with a four-hit game.
UP NEXT
The teams wil wrap up the OVC portion of the series Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. There will be a fourth game set for Sunday at Noon that won't have league standing implications.
