Eagles Drop a Pair to SEMO

Morehead, Ky. -- The Morehead State baseball team dropped a pair of games in their Ohio Valley Conference series-opening doubleheader with Southeast Missouri Saturday at Allen Field.
 
GAME ONE

Morehead State's (12-29/ 2-15 OVC) starter Kamden Hawks and SEMO starter Nathan Mertens dueled in the opener, with the Redhawks taking a 5-1win.

Southeast Missouri (25-18/ 12-5 OVC) got on the board in the second inning, scoring two runs on one hit. Hawks allowed a leadoff hit, then walked three straight batters to push the first run across.

The Eagles were able to get a double play on a grounder to shortstop Andy Cisneros that plated the second run.

Hawks (1-4) threw seven innings, scattering three hits, while allowing two earned runs and issued five walks. He struck out six SEMO batters.

Mertens (6-1) was chased in the sixth inning. He issued a one-out walk to JJ Dutton and a two out single through the right side to put runners on the corners. Southeast Missouri reliever Jackson Kranawetter came on to get a strikeout to end the threat.

Mertens threw 5.2 innings, scattering five hits, walked one and struck out one. Kranawetter picked up his seventh save of the season.

The Eagles cracked the score board with Hunter Thomas' 17^th home run of the season, a high fly over the screen in right center.

Southeast Missouri got a pair of runs in the eighth on a two-run home run by Redhawk right fielder Cole Warehime and tacked on another in the ninth.
 
GAME TWO

Southeast Missouri scored in bunches that proved too much for Morehead State to overcome and the Redhawks took the nightcap 21-7.

SEMO scored three in the second and five in both the third and fifth innings. The Redhawks added on another six runs in the sixth. SEMO tacked on solo runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
 
Morehead State got on the board in the first inning, JJ Dutton reached on a two-out single to center and was driven in by Davis German's second triple of the season. The Eagles got another run in the second inning. Alex Kean led off with a double high off the screen in center field and scored on Austyn Peak's chopper back to the mound. 

The Eagles got five runs in the sixth, highlighted by a home run over the screen in right center, but were unable to push any other runs across.

Morehead State and SEMO will wrap up the series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05.

NOTABLE

• MSU center fielder JJ Dutton had his 18-game hit streak snapped in the opener, going 0-3 at the plate with a walk. Dutton rebounded with two hits in the nightcap, his 13^th multi-hit game of the season.
• Redshirt freshman Austyn Peak started both ends of the doubleheader, the first starts of his career. He got the first multi-hit game of his collegiate career in the second game, going 3-4 at the plate, with three runs batted in.
• Andy Cisneros extended his hit streak to eight games in the first game of the day but went 0-3 in the nightcap.
• Hunter Thomas' 17 home runs and 50 RBI lead the OVC.  
• Alex Kean had two hits in the second game: giving him 13 multi-hit games on the season.