Morehead, Ky. -- Morehead State pounded out 11 hits, and got gutsy pitching performances as the Eagles edged Tennessee Tech 5-4 Thursday night at Allen Field at Prefontaine Park in Morehead, Ky.
Morehead State (14-37/ 4-21 OVC) had their bullpen scatter four hits, allowing only run through the final 4.2 innings for the victory.
Will Grimmett (4-6) picked up the win, throwing three innings, allowing one run on three hits. He walked one Tech batter and struck out two.
Tennessee Tech (35-19/ 16-9 OVC) got an early run on catcher Mack Whitcomb's 14
th home run of the season, a drive over the screen in center field.
MSU responded in the second; left fielder
Davis Germann led off with a triple off the screen in center and scored on designated hitter
Eli Kirkendoll's single through the right side.
The Eagles got two more runs in the third inning.
Alex Kean and Dutton singled. After third baseman
Griffin Olson induced a two-out walk to load the bases, Kirkendoll again came up big with a double down the left field line to score Kean and Dutton to give MSU a 3-1 lead.
Tech went back on top in the fifth inning. Morehead State starter
Landon Waugh opened the inning issuing back-to-back walks. After a bouncer to first for an out, Waugh was replaced by
Will Grimmett out of the bullpen.
Whitcomb delivered for the Golden Eagles with a two-run triple in the right field corner to tie the game. He scored on an infield ground out to give Tech a 4-3 lead. Grimmett was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout.
Waugh threw 4.1 innings, allowing four hits and giving up three runs (all earned). He walked three and struck out four in his second start of the season.
Morehead State catcher
Hunter Thomas tied the game in the sixth inning with his OVC-leading 19
th home run of the season, a 390-foot blast over the big blue wall in right center.
The Eagles took the lead in the seventh. Kean walked to lead off the inning, and
JJ Dutton was hit by a pitch. Germann hit a double high off the wall in right center scoring Kean and putting MSU ahead 5-4.
Tech threatened in the eighth. Center fielder Jackson Green reached on an error and second baseman Eddie Garza singled to center to put runners at first and second. A sacrifice bunt runners on second and third with one out.
Grimmett was replaced by
Trevor Callahan out of the bullpen. With the infield pulled in, Callahan got the first batter he faced to ground out to first baseman
Aubrey Kearns, then induced a fly ball to Germann in left field to put out the fire.
Hunter Porter (1) came out of the bullpen in the ninth and picked up his first save of the season. After getting a fly out, he walked a batter and allowed a single to put runners at first and second. He then got a ground ball to Olson at third base that turned into a double play to preserve the win.
Tennessee Tech's Jack Brafa (6-4) took the loss out of the bullpen for the Golden Eagles.
The time for first pitch for game two of the series tomorrow has been changed due to expected storms in the area. The new start time is set for 3:00 p.m. ET. Due to technical difficulities, the expected stream on ESPN+ has been cancelled. Saturday's game is expected to be streamed.Â
NOTABLE
- Thursday's game was the fourth in the last five that Morehead State had double-digit hits.
- Both teams left 10 runners on base.
- JJ Dutton walked in the fifth inning to extend his reached-base streak to 30 games.
- Alex Kean rapped out two hits to extend his hit streak to 13 games.
- Davis Germann was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle, going 3-4.
- Eli Kirkendoll went 2-4 with three runs batted in. It is his fifth multiple-RBI game.
