Morehead, Ky. -- Morehead State hung five runs up in the first, fifth and eighth innings and outlasted Southern Illinois 18-12 in the opener of their three-game series Friday at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Ill.
Morehead State (7-9) pounded out 19 hits, led by left fielder
Davis Germann and right fielder
JJ Dutton with three hits apiece. In the game, eight Eagle batters finished with multiple hits.
Eagle reliever
Josh Furtado (1-0) picked up the win with a strong effort out of the bullpen. The junior threw three innings, allowing two runs on one hit, while walking two Saluki batters and recording a career-high six strikeouts.
Eagle pitchers struck out 12 SIU batters, while walking 10 and allowing 14 hits, including three home runs.
MSU got off to a fast start, plating five runs all with two outs. The Eagles rapped six hits and took a walk to get out to the early 5-0 lead highlighted by
JJ Dutton's two-RBI single up the middle to open the scoring.
After Southern Illinois (11-5) came back to tie the game with four runs in the second and one more in the third, Morehead State struck again in the fifth. Designated hitter
Hunter Thomas led off with a single to right field, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored on Germann's RBI-single to right. Germann advanced to third on a two-base error by the SIU right fielder John Lemm. Dutton rapped a single up the middle to score Germann. Catcher
Caden Sheridan reached on an outfield error and freshman second baseman
Aubrey Kearns cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center field gap. Kearns scored on shortstop
Andy Cisneros' ground out and MSU led 10-5.
SIU answered with three in the bottom of the fifth and the teams both posted a run apiece in the sixth. Morehead State scored by third baseman
Griffin Olson's leadoff ground-rule double, followed by him advancing to third on a ground ball, and scoring on a wild pitch.
Both teams posted two runs in the seventh inning, MSU's scoring coming from center field
Hayden Robbins' two-out two RBI single up the middle to put the Eagles ahead 13-11 heading into the eighth.
The Eagles busted open the game with another offensive outburst in the eighth inning. Germann blasted a one-out home run over the fence in left, his fifth of the season. After three consecutive singles, Cisneros rapped a two-run single through the left side. Robbins followed with another two-run single up the middle for his third and fourth runs batted in of the game.
SIU's Dylan Petrey (2-1) was pinned with the loss. Southern Illinois was led offensively by center field Jordan Bach, who went 3-4, with three runs scored. Saluki pitching recorded 16 strikeouts.
Game one of the series was moved to Marion due to impending inclement weather expected in the area. The series will revert back to the SIU campus for Saturday and Sunday. The expected severe weather has also forced a change in the game time for Saturday's game: First pitch has been moved to 7:00 p.m. ET.
NOTABLE
- The game was the seventh of the season in which MSU scored double-digit runs. MSU is 5-2 on the season when scoring in double digits.
- JJ Dutton hit 3-5 with three runs batted in. In the last eight games he's hit 13-34 (.382).
- Shortstop Andy Cisneros went 2-5 with four RBI. He's now hit safely in 13 of the Eagles' 16 games. He's hitting .311 for the season.
- Davis Germann went 3-6 including his fifth home run of the season. He is second on the club hitting .323. The game extended his hit streak to seven games. In that span the left fielder has hit 12-30 (.400).
- Caden Sheridan went 2-3 at the plate, extending his hit streak to four games. In that span, the freshman has gone 7-11 (.636) at the plate with six runs batted in.
