MOREHEAD, Ky. – In a tale of two games, the Eagles outlasted Central Connecticut in a pitcher's duel before falling in an extra inning slugfest to Hampton.
Jessie Begley shined in the circle in the opening contest, tossing six shutout innings and only allowing three hits.
Lennon Spicer put a bow on the pitching performance, striking out the side to pick up her first save of the season. The lone run came off the bat of
Emily Williams, who cranked her second homerun of the season to lift the Eagles to victory.
The second game saw the Eagles launch a comeback to send the game into extras, but ultimately were not able to hold onto leads in the ninth and tenth innings, falling 7-6.
Madi Ogden tossed a complete game, 9.2 innings, in the loss, while
Trinity Spear led the team at the dish, going 3-5 with an RBI and three runs.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 1)
Neither time could break through after three innings, with the only base runner for the Eagles,
Madeline Gailor in the third, being thrown out at second on a stolen base attempt.
Emily Williams delivered the only hit for the Eagles in the top of the fourth when she drilled her second homerun of the season to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Begley continued to keep the Blue Devils at bay, stranding a runner on third in the sixth, before
Lennon Spicer entered in the seventh and struck out the side to pick up the save.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 2)
The Eagles left the bases loaded in the first, allowing Hampton to strike first with two runs in the second.
The Eagles cut into the lead with a sacrifice fly from
Peyton Jordan in the top of the third, scoring
Trinity Spear, who had stolen third.
The Pirates answered back with two runs in the bottom half of the frame to stretch their lead to 4-1.
An
Erin Boyle triple led off the fifth and she came home to score on a
Trinity Spear on an RBI single. After
Kirya Kingery was hit by a pitch, Jordan came through with an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Eagles would tie the game in the top of the seventh when
Emily Williams came through with a sacrifice fly to score Kingery after back-to-back singles to open the inning.
After Ogden lifted the Eagles into extras, Morehead State took their first lead of the game with a leadoff double from Kingery to score Spear.
The Pirates responded with a bases loaded walk, but Gailor threw out the potential game-winning run at the plate to keep the game alive.
An RBI groundout from Gailor then gave the Eagles a 6-5 lead in the tenth, but a two-out, two-RBI double ended the game and gave Hampton the 7-6 victory.
UP NEXT
The Eagles head to nearby Marshall Friday for the Thundering Herd Round Robin. Morehead State will take on Pittsburgh at 10:00 AM before taking on the host at 3:00 PM.
