CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Morehead State baseball team entered the weekend with the chance to move into third place in the OVC regular season standings with a series win over Eastern Illinois, and the Eagles seized the opportunity Sunday, pulling out a 10-3 Mother's Day victory over the Panthers to clinch the series.
John Bakke (W, 4-3) took the ball for the second straight Sunday, and delivered a quality start once again, throwing seven innings while allowing only three runs on 10 hits, striking out five EIU batters on his way to his fourth win of the season. Bakke got into trouble in the seventh, allowing all three of EIU's runs to score, but stranded the tying run in scoring position to keep the Eagles ahead 4-3.
MSU threatened a few times in the early going, as
Alex Jacobs extended his on-base streak to 43 games (just seven shy of the school record), but the Eagles couldn't cash him in. In the fifth inning; however, the Eagles took advantage of back-to-back singles from
Chase Vinson and
Isaias Guzman, allowing
Brody Shoupe to drop a sacrifice bunt to score Vinson for the first run of the ballgame.
Ryley Preece, the OVC's leader in walks, then drew his 39th walk of the season, to bring up
Jackson Feltner. The Louisa, Ky., native retook the team lead in home runs with a three-run bomb over the left-centerfield wall for his 12th longball this season, giving the Eagles a 4-0 lead at the halfway mark. Preece's walk extended his on-base streak to 27 games, the second longest streak for the Eagles this season.
After EIU cut the Eagle lead to one,
Nick Gooden crossed home plate on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 5-3. Five more runs crossed in the ninth inning, as
Alex Jacobs came up with the bases loaded and delivered a two-run double down the right field line.
Nick Gooden drove in another with a single back up the middle,
Colton Becker laid down a sacrifice bunt to score a run, and
Chase Vinson rounded out the late game rally with an RBI single of his own.
The Eagles have found some magic in the late innings this season, as their six runs in the final two frames pushed their run total in the eighth and ninth innings to 62 on the year.
Jarrett Miller slammed the door on the Panthers in the final two innings, taking the ball from
John Bakke and recording a six-out save with two strikeouts.
With the win, the Eagles moved into third place in the OVC with a 10-8 record in conference play, and a 21-24 record overall. Morehead State returns to Allen Field Tuesday to face long-time rival Marshall in the midweek, before hosting OVC foe SIUE for a three-game weekend set.
