MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State entered game one of its Friday's Ohio Valley Conference home doubleheader with Southern Illinois-Edwardsville trailing the all-time series 25-3, which included a 17-1 mark at home.
Fast forward to Friday evening and now those numbers are 25-5 and 17-3 as the Eagles swept the Cougars 7-0 and 4-2 in the twin bill at the University Field. In the process, Morehead State (4-27/3-12) registered some historic achievements.
Those include:
- Winning consecutive games against an OVC opponent for the first time since toppling Tennessee Tech twice and Jacksonville State once on the road on April 28-29, 2018.
- Guaranteeing its first-ever series win against the Cougars (now at 10-1-1).
- Allowing two or fewer runs in a conference doubleheader sweep since defeating Tennessee State 6-0 and 2-1 on March 31, 2018.
- Winning consecutive OVC home games for the first time the 2018 meetings against TSU.
- Holding a single opponent scoreless for 13 straight innings in a single day since March 20, 2013 (Shawnee State 14 innings).
- Surpassing the last two year's total home victories with four.
In addition, the Eagles avoided a dubious record for fewest victories in a season, surpassing the 2019 club's three wins, while surrendering zero earned runs.
Individually, senior third baseman
Peyton Rose was hit by a pitch twice and moved up to fifth nationally with a 0.433 per-game average, while also tying for fifth at MSU in times hit in a single-season (13) and tying for eighth on the school's career list (17). Senior catcher
Peyton Slater extended her lead in the OVC and into fifth in Division I having thrown out 14 runners attempting to steal.
Plus, senior first baseman
Alexis Strother hit her first home run of the season (and first since the third game of last spring's series with SIUE) and freshman pitcher
Madi Ogden won her first career game in the circle.
The Eagles snapped skids of seven overall games and four straight at home. It ended Cougar runs of 10 consecutive total wins and 16 in a row in Morehead against the Blue and Gold. SIUE (14-23/5-9), which dropped its ninth contest in its last 10 away from home, fell to 1-14 on the road this year.
With Friday's victories, MSU put itself in the thick of the race for a spot in the OVC Tournament field in mid-May.
"We were super-proud of the team the way they came out in the first game. (Sophomore) Lennon (Spicer) did a great job of pitching (and) maintaining her composure in the circle. Our defense did an outstanding job of turning double plays (and) getting the lead runner out, and then Alexis breaking her hitting (slump) with a home run. That's pretty amazing, and I know she felt pretty good about that," MSU coach
Samantha Jones said.
So, what happened that put Morehead State on top?
Game one started with Strother hitting her first home run in nearly a year with a shot over the left-center field fence to lead off the second inning and give the Eagles the only cushion they needed.
"During that at-bat, she actually threw me a pitch right down the middle that I took. Clearly there was a plan that I didn't know about, that I didn't swing at that pitch. Then that pitch that I did end up hitting on the 2-2 count was an inside pitch. I had the feeling that she was going to come inside on me because she had been from the middle in for the most part," Strother said. "Right off the bat, I knew it was gone. It kind of got me emotional, because like I've been in a little bit of a slump coming into this weekend."
Strother thought the home run was a game-changer for the hosts.
"I think it gave us a lot of energy we could take and run with for the rest of the game," she said. "If anybody would have done it, it would have been huge. It just happened to be me."
The score remained 1-0 until the sixth when MSU scored six runs off three hits, a walk, a hit batsman and an error.
Junior shortstop
Kirya Kingery reached base on an error to begin the frame. Slater singled to left field and Kingery beat the throw home on sophomore second baseman
Peyton Jordan's sacrifice bunt. Strother followed with a sacrifice fly to right field that plated Slater. Freshman right fielder
Ilencia Lightbody walked and SIUE made a pitching change.
Sophomore Kelsey Ray entered with one out and junior designated player
Taylor Rhea scored Jordan with a sacrifice bunt. Rhea also safely made it to first, but was tagged out attempting to push Lightbody home on a double steal. Rose was hit by a pitch and scored on the next play, a triple down the left-field line by sophomore center fielder
Trinity Spear. Then junior left fielder Maddi Gailor followed with a single that drove in Spear for the 7-0 advantage.
"That sixth inning is exactly who this team is, creating chaos on the bases, putting bunts down, hitting the ball hard into play and putting pressure on the defense," said coach Jones.
The Cougars got on base in every inning but the fourth and finished the game having stranded six. They also out-hit the Eagles 8-6, but Morehead State's defense picked up the slack.
"I think Lennon did a good job of keeping us in the game. We knew that if we got just a handful of runs, even just that one run, she would have kept us in that game no problem," Strother said. "I think our defense did a great job. No matter what, whether we won 1-0 or 7-0 … I think our defense just had us the entire game."
Six different Eagles registered a hit: Gailor, Slater, Jordan, Strother, Lightbody and Spear. Five of those seven scored, with Kingery replacing Gailor on that list. Strother led the way with two RBI, while Gailor, Jordan, Rhea and Spear each recorded one.
Sophomore center fielder Lexi King and freshman shortstop Aerin Talley each had two hits to pace the visitors.
Spicer picked up her third win of the year after going the distance in the shutout. She improved to 3-13, allowing eight hits, while striking out one and walking one.
Sophomore Syndey Baalman (4-7) suffered the loss after pitching five and one-third innings. She gave up five runs, although only two were earned. She also surrendered four hits and two walks, while striking out three. Ray pitched the final two-thirds of an inning, yielding two unearned runs on two hits, with no walks and a strikeout.
The Eagles carried the momentum over into game two.
"After that first game, we were like, 'Okay, why not get another'. So, I think the confidence was just through the roof and that's what we need every game," said Ogden, the second-game starter.
Like in the first contest, SIUE put batters on base (this time in every inning), but ended the nightcap by leaving a whopping 13 stranded.
The game stood scoreless through the first three innings, when the hosts loaded the bases. Lightbody led off with a single to left, Rhea reached on an error off a sacrifice bunt and Spear beat out a bunt to the pitcher for a single. With two outs, Gailor cleared the bases with a double to center field and eventually moved to third as the Cougars unsuccessfully tried to get Spear out at the plate.
SIUE put runners on base, but could not get them past second for most of the afternoon as Kingery and Rose snuffed out rallies with force plays at third – a sequence that happened five times, including twice each in the second and fifth, both times ending the inning.
In the top of the sixth, the Cougars mounted another challenge after a single by sophomore left fielder Jenna Herron and then a second by sophomore center fielder Lexi King that she drilled up the middle and right at the chest of Ogden. The freshman hurler saw that play as a wake-up call.
"I definitely think that that helped me, because I wanted to get outs. So, I was just throwing the ball over the white too much. So, when they hit it up the middle that's kind of usually when you know, 'Hey, I threw it too much over the middle,'" she said. "So, me getting hit kind of opened my eyes on hitting my corners and that woke me up, and honestly it didn't hurt that bad. So, it was okay."
MSU added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth after Rose singled to center field and advanced three bases on an error during Gailor's at-bat.
The Cougars finally broke through in the seventh. Sophomore third baseman Grace Lueke singled to begin the inning. Singles by sophomore designated player Grace Bretveld and junior first baseman Amber Storer continued the surge with the latter's hit scoring the first run. The visitors benefited from two Eagle errors, the second of which resulted in Storer scoring. However, the game ended when Ogden caught Herron looking at strike three. It was her only strikeout of the afternoon.
"I definitely think that my change (up) and my rise were working well today and that definitely helped keep them off balance," said Ogden. "I only had one strikeout. Usually, I try to go for more than that, but my defense just had my back. They almost got the lead runner in almost every situation and made some big plays that really gave the momentum to us, and so we stayed in the game because of our defense and we ended up overpowering them 4-2."
Gailor continued her torrid offensive stretch, in which she has now reached base in 11 of the last 12 games (and 14 of the last 17), with a 2-for-4, three-RBI performance. Kingery, too, kept her batting successes alive, also finishing 2-for-4, extending her on-base streak to 11 times in her last 13 games. Jordan notched her first two-hit outing of the season, while Strother, Lightbody, Rose and Spear also collected hits. Lightbody, Rose, Spear and sophomore pinch runner
Erin Boyle scored the team's runs.
Senior second baseman Bailey Concatto went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead a 14-hit effort for the visitors. Lueke, Storer, Bretveld and Talley all ended the second contest 2-for-4. Storer was credited with the club's lone RBI, while Bretveld and junior pinch runner Micah Arps each crossed home plate once.
Ogden picked up her first win to improve to 1-8 after pitching a complete game. She finished allowing two unearned runs and a walk, in addition to the 14 hits, and notching one strikeout.
Sophomore Mia Haynes dropped to 5-13 with the loss. She yielded 10 hits, four runs (two earned), without a walk. She struck out three.
Jones finally saw the fruits of the team's labors in the pair of wins.
"What was so exciting was they carried that over to the second game and taking the series from SIUE and now we're looking to get a sweep tomorrow at noon. Overall, an outstanding job by all of the girls," she said. "The defense was outstanding. Madi O(gden) pitched a great game. But, her defense continually had her back again with double plays and getting lead runners, and the outfield did a great job with a lot of pop ups and those Texas Leaguers and securing those catches.
"Overall, I'm super happy for the girls. They deserved to win," she added. "They've been busting their butts all week and I'm glad to see that everything is coming together for them."
The two teams close out the series with a single game on Saturday at noon.
Morehead State will be off Sunday, before returning to the field to end its seven-game home stand with a Monday doubleheader against Rio Grande.
