Eagles Pound Out 17 Hits, Thump Herd 11-2

Huntington, W.Va. -- The Morehead State baseball team got out to an early lead, scoring ten runs and pounding out 14 hits in the first four innings while cruising to a 11-2 win over Marshall Wednesday afternoon at Jack Cook Field in Huntington, W.Va.
 
Morehead State (19-21) was led offensively by center fielder Davis Germann with five hits in six at-bats with a double and four runs batted in and right fielder JJ Dutton who collected four hit in five trips to the plate with a double and a run batted in.
 
Eagle starter freshman Sam Smith (2-0) picked up the win. He threw two innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. Senior Ethan Davis was effective out of the bullpen. He threw five and a third shutout innings, allowing two hits while recording three strikeouts.
 
Morehead State jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the top of the first. Davis Germann led off with a single down the right field line and scored on Griffin Olson's double lined to the wall in left center. After Aubrey Kearns walked, Ian McCubbin bounced into a double play, forcing Olson to third. Olson scored when Brayton Coomer lined a single off the wall in left.
 
Marshall answered in the bottom of the opening frame, scoring twice on a leadoff hit by pitch, two singles and an RBI double.
 
The Eagles broke out with four runs in the second inning. Austyn Peak led off and reached when he got hit by a pitch. Catcher Miller Murray walked. Germann plated Peak with a single to left. Kearns singled up the middle to score Murray and advanced to second on the throw into third base. McCubbin then delivered a two-run ground-rule double into the right field corner.
 
The Eagles added two runs in both the third and fourth innings. In the third Peak led off with a walk and Murray followed with a single to left. Germann delivered an RBI single through the right side. Murray scored on Kearns' grounder to second.
 
In the fourth, JJ Dutton rapped a one-out single up the middle. Murray lined a two-single to right. Germann delivered again with a two-run double in the gap in right center to put the Eagles ahead 10 2.
 
The Eagles scored their final run in the eighth. Griffith singled with a liner to left and scored on JJ Dutton's RBI double driven into the gap in right-center.
 
Marshall (18-21) used nine pitchers in the game. Luke Proehl (0-1) took the loss. He got two outs in the second inning, giving up four earned runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out one Eagle batter.
 
Morehead State returns home for an Ohio Valley Conference series this weekend with Southern Indiana. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET. The game is scheduled to be aired on ESPN+. Airtime is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.
 
NOTABLE

• Morehead State finished with 18 hits. It was the 26^th game of the season the Eagles have pounded out double-digit hits.
• Eagle pitchers combined for just one walk in the game tying their season-low.
• Germann joined Kearns as the two players this season who have notched five hits in a game. Kearns went 5-5 in the series finale at Western Carolina on March15.
• Nick Griffith went 3-5 at the plate with a run scored. It was his 10^th game of the season with multiple hits.
• Kearns has hit safely in 35 of MSU's 40 games this season.
• Miller Murray rapped out two hits in four at-bats and scored three runs.
• Morehead State starter Sam Smith pitched two innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits.
• Smith and Davis each hit one batter in the game, pushing the MSU pitching staff's total to 83 plunked batters on the season. That ranks in the top-15 in the country.