BOX SCORE
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Coming in with a chance to secure a top four seed in the OVC Tournament, the Morehead State baseball team won their fourth straight game Friday, winning over Austin Peay 7-6. The Eagles (26-26) secured the three seed in the OVC Tournament with the win (and a loss from SIUE) and reached the .500 mark for the first time in the penultimate contest of the 2022 regular season.
Luke Helton (W, 3-6) took the mound for the Eagles and delivered his finest start as an Eagle, tying his career-high in strikeouts. Helton punched out nine Govs over six innings while allowing only two runs on five hits in his second win of the season. Helton has been a workhorse in 2022 for MSU, finishing the regular season with 73.1 innings pitched.
The Eagles fell behind early, as Austin Peay scored a run on a two-out double in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. In the third,
Jackson Feltner (3-3, 2B, RBI) smacked a ground rule double and tied the game at one, before an infield single from
Nick Gooden gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead. The Govs tied the game in the bottom half on a solo home run by Ty DeLancey.
A scoreless fourth inning passed before the Eagles took the lead back in the fifth.
Ryley Preece led off the inning with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly from
Roman Kuntz to give MSU a 3-2 lead.
Ryley Preece (2-5, HR, 3B, RBI, 3 R) went deep for the second time in as many days in the sixth, a solo shot to give Morehead State a 4-2 lead. Preece has 14 homers this season, and six round trippers in five career games in Clarksville.
Roman Kuntz (1-4, 2 RBI) knocked in another with a single in the eighth inning. Austin Peay could have ended the inning with two men on, but two errors on one play by the Govs' pitcher allowed two more runs to score in the inning, giving the Eagles a 7-2 lead.
John Sherman (1.2 IP, 4 K) threw a scoreless inning in the seventh, and got two outs in the eighth before giving the ball to
Joe Rotkis, who struck out the only batter he faced, ending the inning and stranding two runners in scoring position.
The Govs made things interesting in the ninth, plating four runs in the inning, but
John Bakke settled down and got John McDonald to fly out to end the game.
By securing the three seed, the Eagles made sure they will only play one elimination game Wednesday in day one of the OVC Tournament. MSU will wrap up the regular season Saturday, with the first pitch of the series and regular season finale set for 2:00 p.m. ET.
