CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Senior Roman Kuntz hit a pair of home runs to set the Morehead State and Ohio Valley Conference single-season long-ball record as well as the program single-season RBI mark, and fellow senior Ryley Preece hit a three-run homer and scored twice to set the OVC career runs scored record as the Eagle baseball team claimed a series win at Eastern Illinois with an 18-10 slugfest victory Saturday at Coaches Stadium.
Kuntz went 2-for-5 at the plate, supplementing his two home runs with six RBI. Kuntz now has 28 home runs, breaking the school and league record of 27 held by former Eagle slugger Niko Hulsizer in 2017. Kuntz upped his RBI total to 83, also eclipsing Hulsizer's previous single-season standard of 82 set in 2017.
Preece, who already set the program single-season runs scored record, touched home plate twice to up his career total to 242. He broke Bert Smith's (Jacksonville State 2006-10) old mark of 241. He now has 19 home runs. Morehead State launched six home runs on the day, moving the season total to 116.
The win also secured first-year head coach Brady Ward the program record for wins by a coach in their first season, topping the 29 John Jarnigan had in 1996. MSU (30-20, 14-9 OVC) has now had 30+ wins in seven of the last 10 seasons.
Senior Colton Becker led the offense, which produced 16 hits, with four. He also stole two more bases, tying for second place on the MSU single-season chart now with 27 successful swipes.
Freshman Hayden Robbins added to Kuntz's awesome power-hitting performance by going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Nick Gooden also chipped in for the Eagles, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Logan Castleman added his eighth homer of the year.
Joe Rotkis (2-1) picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Morehead State. The right-hander went 4.2 innings, giving up six runs, all of them earned, on 12 hits, allowing no walks and striking out five. Starter Carter Owens pitched the first four and struck out a career-high six batters.
GAME NOTES
» Senior Colton Becker racked up four hits on the day for Morehead State.
» The Eagles had both Kuntz and Gooden smack multiple extra-base hits in the ballgame.
» Kuntz drove in six runs for Morehead State.
» Every Morehead State starter reached base safely in the win.
» Morehead State's highest scoring inning was the second, when it pushed five runs across.
» Morehead State grabbed a 4-0 lead in the top half of the first and didn't surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
» Five Eagles had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» Morehead State went 6-for-13 (.462) with runners in scoring position.
» Morehead State pitchers limited Eastern Illinois to just 2-for-11 (.182) with runners in scoring position.
» Morehead State pitchers faced 48 Eastern Illinois hitters in the game, allowing four ground balls and 11 fly balls while striking out 11.
» The Eagles drew five walks from Eastern Illinois pitching.
» Eastern Illinois was led offensively by senior Cole Gober, who went 1-for-4 with a home run and four RBI.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
