BOX SCORE
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Nick Gooden,
Chase Vinson and
Alex Jacobs combined for seven hits and six RBI but it ended up being in a setback in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for Morehead State Baseball Friday as Murray State used three multiple-run innings to fend off the Eagles 7-6 at Allen Field.
Morehead State slipped to 7-14 with its sixth straight loss. Murray is now 14-6.
Gooden and Vinson gave the Eagles an early spark with back to back homers in the bottom of the second inning. Gooden belted a two-run smack, followed by a solo smash from Vinson - both Eagles' third long balls of the 2022 campaign.
The 3-0 lead was short-lived, however, as a couple of fielding errors led to two unearned Racer runs in the third. Murray then rapped out two RBI singles in the fourth for a 4-3 advantage. Another RBI one-bagger made it 5-3 in the sixth, but Morehead State trimmed it to 5-4 in the sixth as well as Vinson's grounder plated
Roman Kuntz.
Murray got a solo homer and an RBI double in the eighth for a 7-4 cushion. Once again, the Eagles didn't go down quietly. Vinson set a career-high with his third and fourth RBI on a line-drive single to left center-field in the bottom of the inning.
The home team got a pair of runners on the ninth, both relief pitcher Jacob Pennington caught the final two outs looking at third strikes for his first save of the year. He had six punchouts in four innings. Starter Hayden Wynja (2-1) also struck out eight Eagles in the first five innings.
Morehead State starter
Luke Helton (1-3) sat down a season-high seven on strikeouts himself in 4.1 innings but absorbed the tough-luck loss even they he only allowed two earned runs. Five other Eagle pitchers combined with Helton to record a season-high 13 strikeouts, including four from
Jarrett Miller.
Gooden was 3-for-4, while Vinson and Jacobs had two hits apiece. The Eagle left-fielder Jacobs now owns a 19-game reached-base streak and an 11-game hitting streak. Vinson has a five-game hit streak intact.
The teams will play game two on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. ET.
