Morehead, Ky. –Morehead State and Quinnipiac combined for 10 home runs, 33 hits and 22 walks and the Eagles prevailed in a wild back-forth affair 22-21 Friiday afternoon at Allen Field.
Morehead State (5-3) got two home runs from
Hunter Thomas and left fielder Davis German and a solo shot from first baseman
Alex Kean.
Quinnipiac (3-5) got two home runs from third baseman Sebastian Mueller and designated hitter Christian Smith and a solo shot from shortstop Alex Irizarry.
Morehead State opened the scoring in the bottom of the first plating three runs. Quinnipiac responded with a big inning in the second, scoring eight runs, sending 12 batters to the plate.
The Eagles scored five in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 8-8. Quinnipiac answered with six in the third, two in the fourth and four in the fifth to get to 20 runs on the board. Morehead State got four runs in both the third and fourth innings, and three in the fifth to trail 20-19 through five innings.
Morehead State pitching held Quinnipiac scoreless in the sixth, seventh and eight innings.
Blake Hager and
Trevor Callahan combined to throw three and two-thirds scoreless innings to keep the Eagles close. Callahan (1-2) notched his first win of the season.
In the bottom of the seventh center fielder
Hayden Robbins reached with one out on his third hit-by-pitch of the game, tying a school record. After an out, Thomas lifted a fly ball over the center field screen off Quinnipiac reliever Ryan O'Connell (0-1) to put the Eagles ahead 21-20.
In the bottom of the eighth, Germann slugged his second homer of the day (and the season) to make it 22-20.
Morehead State closer
Will Grimmett came on in the ninth getting two ground outs, then Sebastian Mueller slammed his second homer of the game to pull the Bobcats to within one run, 22-21. Grimmett then coaxed a ground ball to end the game and collect his second save of the season.
Game two of the series is Saturday; first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET.
NOTABLE
- Hunter Thomas has six home runs and 20 runs batted in; leading the Ohio Valley Conference in both categories. He finished the day with three hits, raising his average to .353
- Center fielder Hayden Robbins had seven plate appearances. He was hit-by-pitch three times and collected three hits in four at-bats, scoring five runs. He's hitting .353 on the season.
- Davis German had three hits in four at-bats with three runs batted in and scored three runs. He raised his batting average 68 points to .385 on the season.
