MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Ryley Preece continued his climb up the program's all-time home run list on Friday, hitting two home runs in the Morehead State baseball team's 11-6 win over Butler in the Eagles' home opener.
Preece's two home runs moved his career tally to 44 -- tied for third in program history alongside Niko Hulsizer (2016-18) and Drew Lee (2007-10). Preece is five home runs shy of tying Jody Hamilton (1977-80) and Cary Page (2000-03) for the record. He also moved his on-base streak to 49 games, just three shy of the school record 52 set by Alex Jacobs in 2022.
Luke Helton (3-0) started on the mound and picked up the win for Morehead State (6-3). The right-hander went seven innings, giving up four runs, all of them earned, on six hits, allowing one walk and striking out four. Matt Bettio also made an impact on the mound for the Eagles, throwing one inning, giving up one run on one hit, with no walks and two strikeouts.
Preece went 2-for-3 at the plate, supplementing his two home runs with three RBIs. Freshman Alex Kean added to Preece's awesome power-hitting performance by going 3-for-4 with two RBI along with one walk. Freshman Davis Germann also helped out for the Eagles, going 2-for-5 with two doubles.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Eagles got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the bottom the first inning with the game still scoreless. Morehead State scored twice, with one run coming across on senior Ryan Grabosch's single.
The Eagles then held the Bulldogs scoreless before getting back on the board the very next inning. Morehead State scored once on an RBI single off the bat of senior Colton Becker, which brought the score to 3-0 in favor of the Eagles.
Morehead State held Butler scoreless before building their lead to 7-0 in the fourth inning. The Eagle bats heated up in the inning, scoring four runs, including a two-run home run off the bat of Preece.
The Bulldogs fought back, closing the gap to 7-1 until Morehead State added some insurance in the fifth. The Eagles added two runs, scoring one on a solo round-tripper from Preece, bringing the score to 9-1 in favor of Morehead State.
Butler got within 9-5 until the Eagles scored again in the eighth inning to stretch its lead to 11-5. Morehead State picked up two runs when a single from Kean brought home senior Roman Kuntz and Nick Gooden. Butler put one run on the scoreboard before the game was over, but the Eagles still coasted to the 11-6 win.
GAME NOTES
» The Eagles got two home runs off the bat of Preece.
» Kean compiled three base knocks in the game for Morehead State.
» The Eagles had both Germann and Preece crush multiple extra-base hits in the ballgame.
» Every Morehead State starter reached base safely in the win.
» Morehead State's highest scoring inning was the fourth, when it pushed four runs across.
» Morehead State grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the first and didn't surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
» Six Eagles had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Eagles had a total of 15 hits.
» The Eagles out-hit the Bulldogs at a 15-8 clip.
» Morehead State went 6-for-16 (.375) with runners in scoring position.
» Morehead State pitchers limited Butler to just 1-for-7 (.143) with runners in scoring position.
» Morehead State pitchers faced 40 Butler hitters in the game, allowing 14 ground balls and six fly balls while striking out six.
» The Eagles drew six walks from Butler pitching.
MSU goes for its first win on a Saturday this season tomorrow when the Eagles try and take the series at 12:00 p.m. ET.
