MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State baseball team followed up its comeback win Thursday with another win in the first game of Friday's doubleheader, shutting out UT Martin 14-0 to take the series. The Eagles got back to .500 in OVC play (7-7) and moved their overall record to 18-23.
Grant Herron (W, 3-2) took the ball for the Eagles and delivered the best start of his college career, going 6.2 innings and striking out 11 Skyhawk batters, allowing only two hits in the shutout victory. Herron moved into the starting rotation this season, and has posted a career-high in innings pitched with 30.
Morehead State jumped on top early on, as
Alex Jacobs laid down a sacrifice bunt to score
Ryley Preece from third to make the score 1-0.
Bryson Stripling smashed his first collegiate home run in the second inning, a two-run blast that gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
Jackson Feltner took the team-lead in home runs with a fifth inning, two-run moonshot to left field for his 11
th trot around the bases this season, besting his 2021 total of 10 to make the score 5-0. Feltner has a hit in 14 straight, with 18 RBI in that time. With his four-hit performance, Feltner's batting average sits at .396 on the season, and has 40 RBI.
The Eagles blew the game open in the home seventh, as
Alex Jacobs,
Nick Gooden, and
Isaias Guzman all drove in a run with RBI singles.
Colton Becker dropped down a sacrifice bunt as well, as the four-spot made the score 9-0.
Five more runs came across in the eighth after
Alex Jacobs (2-4, 3 RBI) and
Nick Gooden (3-4, 3 RBI) drove in the first three, setting the stage for
Colton Becker who smashed a two-run home run for his second of the season, making the score 14-0 Eagles.
John Sherman came on for
Grant Herron in the top of the seventh and worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the shutout rolling, and repeated the feat in the eighth by stranding a runner on second base. He stayed on the mound for the ninth inning and retired the Skyhawks to seal the shutout. Friday marks the first time the Eagles have shutout an opponent since a 3-0 win over Jacksonville State in 2021.
Morehead State will look for the sweep in game two of the doubleheader to get above .500 in OVC play.
