Mid-American Conference

Western Michigan 4, Miami 2
Boxscore
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – With two outs in the bottom of the tenth and a runner on second base, junior Nate Grys ended the game with a walk-off home run to center field to give Western Michigan baseball a thrilling 4-2 victory over Mid-American Conference foe Miami on Friday afternoon.
 
Redshirt junior Andrew Stone began the bottom of the tenth with a single down the left field line and then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Miami's Michael Hendricks.
After back-to-back strikeouts by the Broncos, Grys fouled off one pitch before sending the next pitch over the center field wall.
 
It was the first home run of the season for Grys and 10th of his career. Grys became the first Broncos since Hunter Prince to hit a walk-off home run. Prince also hit his walk-off against Miami on May 25, 2016 in the MAC Tournament.
 
Western Michigan rallied late to push the game to extra innings, scoring in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 2-2. On the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning, freshman Sean O'Keefe connected on his first career home run and first home run of the season for WMU over the left field wall.
 
The Broncos tallied just seven hits on the day but scored all four runs in three of the last four innings to pick up the first victory of the season. WMU continues play tomorrow at the Campbell Invitational with a match-up against host school Campbell at 5:00 p.m.  
 
Grys was the leader at the plate for the Broncos against Miami, going 3-for-5 with two runs batted in, one run scored, a double and a home run. WMU had five different players register hits with Grys, O'Keefe and junior Conner Henderson each recording RBIs.
 
On the mound, the Broncos got a stellar performance from redshirt sophomore Jack Szott who went 5.2 innings, allowing no runs on just three hits and striking out one. Szott retired 10 of the final 13 batters he faced.
 
After giving up two Miami runs in the top of the eighth, the junior duo of Chris Modrzynksi and Matt McConnell shut the RedHawks down giving up three hits and no runs in three innings of work.
 
McConnell earned the victory after throwing two innings of one hit ball with no runs given up and striking out one in seven batters faced.  It's the first career victory for the junior left handed pitcher. 
 
It was a pitchers' duel for most of the game as WMU and Miami combined to have just five hits through six innings of play. WMU got on the board first in the bottom of the seventh as a sacrifice fly by Henderson scored senior Beau Filkins from third.
 
Filkins led off the inning with a single to center before moving to second on a fielding error that allowed sophomore Drew Devine to reach base on a fielder's choice. Two batters later after freshman Blake Dunn executed a sacrifice bunt, Henderson hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give WMU an early 1-0 lead.
 
The lead wasn't held for long as Miami began the top of the eight with back to back singles to secure runners on first and second with no outs. A groundout moved the runners over before a sacrifice fly by Cal Elvers to center field tied the game at 1-1. Two pitches later, Miami's Grant Hartwig singled back up the middle to score Dallas Hall from second and give the RedHawks a 2-1 lead.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter O'Keefe stepped to the plate and swung at the first pitch he saw that cleared the left field wall to tie the game at 2-2. WMU then went down in order to head to extra innings for the first time this season.
 
Miami brought just four batters to the plate in the top of the tenth before Grys ended the game with a two-out walk-off home run to lift WMU past Miami, 4-2.
 
Kent State 17, Belmont 3
Boxscore

NASHVILLE – Taking the field in brand new powder blue alternate uniforms reminiscent of the 1980s Milwaukee Brewers, the Golden Flashes erupted for 17 runs in a weekend-opening rout of the Belmont Bruins.

Mason Mamarella drove six of the 17 runs in as the senior went three-for-three officially on the night and also added two sacrifice flies. Brad Hamilton added his third home run in the last two games and Tim DalPorto left the yard for the first time in 2018. KSU also received multi-RBI games from Nick Kanavas, Michael Turner and Hamilton as the club finished with 18 hits and only struck out six times.

The beneficiary(s) of all the production was starter Eli Kraus, who earned his first victory of the campaign. KSU also got shutout relief from Austin Havekost and Jack Zimmerman. The Golden Flashes continued their solid defensive start to the season with an errorless performance. It's the fourth straight win by Kent State over BU after a season-opening sweep a year ago. Those scores were 15-0, 3-0 and 5-4.

The Golden Flashes rolled a five in the second to erase a 1-0 deficit and then put the game out of reach with single tallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth. For an encore, KSU plated seven in the ninth. Last Friday Kent State scored five ninth-inning runs against Sam Houston State.

 
Bowling Green 9, Southeast Missouri State 7
Boxscore
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Bowling Green State University baseball team opened its four-game series at Southeast Missouri State University with a 9-7 victory. The game was played at SEMO's Capaha Field.
 
The Falcons raced out to a huge 9-0 lead, as the Orange and Brown scored two runs in the first, before plating four in the third, and three in the fourth. Southeast Missouri, after scoring two runs in bottom of the fourth, scored five more in seventh.
 
The Redhawks put the tying run on second in that five-run seventh, but Bowling Green would get out of the jam and hold off SEMO over the final two innings.
 
Junior Brad Croy had a career day for the Falcons. Croy went 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI as the designated hitter, before switching to the mound. He went on to log 3.0 innings of one-run ball to earn the save. He struck out five over his 3.0 innings of work.
 
With the victory, Bowling Green improves to 1-3 in 2018, while Southeast Missouri drops to 0-5.

Western Kentucky 1, Northern Illinois 0 -- Boxscore
Western Kentucky 9, Northern Illinois 5 -- Boxscore

BOWLING GREEN, KY. – Three combined RBI and three hits from Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and a sensational starting pitching performance from Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) in the nightcap wasn't enough for the Northern Illinois University baseball team Friday as the Huskies dropped a doubleheader to host Western Kentucky by scores of 9-4 and 1-0.
 
Dunham went 3-for-8 over the twin bill while Tommy Washington (Chicago, Ill./Harlan), Scooter Bynum (Fairbanks, Alaska /Arizona Western College) and Brad Wood (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence) each added two hits, but the Hilltoppers combined for 17 hits, including 14 in the opener, as they improved their overall record to 4-2 on the year. NIU falls to 2-3 after the sweep.
 
"Disappointing day," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "The simple truth is we didn't execute all day. We had chances in both games but couldn't get the big hit when we needed it."
 
Thomas, meanwhile, tossed a near gem in the nightcap as he worked seven solid innings and gave up only two hits while walking two and striking out one.  Donovin Sims (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) came on in relief of Thomas and gave up the lone run of the game – a two-out solo home run to left field – in the eighth inning as he suffered his first loss of the season.
 
"Nate was lights out and picked up his teammates the entire game," Kunigonis said. "He deserved much more than he received."
 
In Game 1 the Huskies snagged a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) walked, advanced to second on a Wood walk, third on a balk and came around on Dunham's single to center field. WKU responded immediately in the bottom half of the frame, however, with an RBI triple, and the hosts moved ahead 6-1 with a run in the third and four in the fifth inning.
 
NIU countered with three runs in the seventh when Wood laced a run-scoring single to left field, plating Joe Jumonville (Munster, Ind./Munster), and Dunham ripped a two-RBI single to left, bringing both Wood and Washington (single) around to score.
 
The rally didn't last, though, as the Hilltoppers plated three runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a two-run double and an RBI sacrifice fly.
 
"We need to regroup and get back at it tomorrow," Kunigonis said. "We'll bounce back from this."
 
NIU resumes the four-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. weather permitting. Sunday's start time is yet to be determined.

New Orleans 10, Ball State 1
Boxscore
Story coming soon...
 
Austin Peay 16, Toledo 4 -- Boxscore
Austin Peay 12, Toledo 2 – Boxscore
Clarksville, Tenn.— The Toledo baseball team dropped a pair of game at Austin Peay on Friday, falling 16-4 in game one and 12-2 in the nightcap. UT and the Governors were originally set to play just one game today, but weather concerns prompted a change in the schedule.
 
Four Rockets hit home runs over the course of the two games: junior Ross Adolph, sophomore Michael Ryan, senior Matt Hansen (two), and senior Brad Boss. Adolph, Boss, and Hansen's first dinger all led off an inning for UT.
 
Hansen had two hits in each game, Ryan had two in the game one, and Boss had a pair of base knocks in game two.
 
Toledo and Austin Peay will face off one more time this weekend, with the day and time still to be determined due to impending weather.
 
Game One: Austin Peay 16, Toledo 4
In the first game, Toledo grabbed an early lead in the top of the second, but Austin Peay was able to push runs across in bunches to secure the win. The Governors' 2-3-4 hitters went a combined 9-for-12 at the plate, driving in six runs.
 
Toledo had its first multi-home run game of the year, launching three long balls in game one. Junior Michael Jacob started the game on the mound and senior Axel Bueter, freshman Kyle Bischoff, and senior Nolan Silberhorn also pitched for the Rockets.
 
Game Two: Austin Peay 12, Toledo 2
Game two was all Austin Peay right from the start. The Govs scored three runs each in the second and third innings to take an early and commanding 6-0 lead. Boss' home run in the fifth inning and Hansen's homer in the sixth kept the Rockets from being shut out.
 
Sophomore Layne Schnitz-Paxton started on the mound for the Midnight Blue and Gold. Freshman Jacob Youngpeter made his collegiate debut and junior Jake Stout, senior Alex Wagner, sophomore Austin Calopietro, and sophomore Joey Prechtel all saw time on the mound. Wagner and Calopietro both threw scoreless, hitless innings out of the pen.

New Mexico 6, Central Michigan 0
Boxscore
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Central Michigan's pitching improved. So did New Mexico's.
 
The Chippewas managed just four hits on Friday in falling to the Lobos, 6-0, in the second game of a four-game nonconference baseball series at New Mexico's Santa Ana Star Field.
 
CMU dropped the series opener on Friday, 20-9, in a four-plus-hour game that featured 29 hits and 20 walks.

New Mexico (3-3) broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the fourth inning. Gouldsmith's two-run triple was the big blow. The Lobos added two runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Leitha and a Dan Collier sacrifice fly.
 
The Chippewas' first hit, a Zach Heeke single, came with two out in the fifth inning. CMU's only legitimate threat came with two out in the seventh when Griffin Lockwood-Powell and Jacob Crum hit back-to-back singles. Heeke struck out to end the inning.

Maine 5, Ohio 1
Boxscore

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The Ohio baseball team (2-3) could not overcome a four-run top of the first inning by Maine (1-4), falling by a score of 5-1 in the opener of the four-game weekend set on Friday (Feb. 23) at Perfect Game's LakePoint facility.
 
Junior shortstop Jeremy Pena led the contest off with a home run for the Black Bears. Sophomore first baseman Cody Pasic was then hit by a pitch, and senior catcher Christopher Bec followed with a single. One out later, junior third baseman Danny Casals delivered a three-run homer to give Maine a 4-0 lead.
 
The Black Bears tacked a fifth run in the top of the third when sophomore right fielder Hernen Sardinas led off with a home run.
 
Ohio plated its lone run in the home half of the third when sophomore left fielder Tanner Piechnick (Canonsburg, Pa.) sent a leadoff double to left and scored two outs later on a base hit to center by redshirt senior catcher Nick Bredeson (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), but that's as close as the Bobcats got.
 
Junior center fielder Devon Garcia (Bowling Green, Ohio) led the Bobcats with a pair of singles.
 
Redshirt senior southpaw starting pitcher Gerry Salisbury (Brunswick, Ohio) suffered the loss on the mound. He struck out five but gave up five earned runs on five hits and four walks.
 
Senior right-handed starting pitcher Justin Courtney earned the victory for Maine, improving to 1-1 on the season. He tallied nine strikeouts while allowing just one earned runs on four hits and a walk.
 
Ohio will look to bounce back on Saturday (Feb. 24) when it takes on Maine in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. ET.