Baseball

Friday's Baseball Results

Friday’s Baseball Results
UMass 6, Mount St. Mary’s 4
Miami 11, Brown 8
Eastern Michigan 7, Austin Peay 6
Central Michigan 9, Belmont 3
Tennessee Tech 8, Ohio 3
No. 13 Tennessee 4, Kent State 3
Jacksonville State 5, Toledo 0
Indiana State 11, Miami 3
Omaha 8, Western Michigan 7
Western Carolina 4, Bowling Green 3
Merrimack 9, Ball State 5
USC Upstate 8, Northern Illinois 5
Western Illinois 16, Akron 8
Belmont 5, Central Michigan 2
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications

UMass 6, Mount St. Mary’s 4
Box Score
COLUMBIA, Md. - University of Massachusetts baseball earned a 6-4 victory in its season opener over Mount St. Mary's at Blandair Park on Friday afternoon. It marked the first career win with Brandon Shileikis and Max Weir at the helm.  

Three Minutemen had two hits apiece, including Ryan Kolben and Jack Beverly with a double each. Reece McCarthy had two hits with two RBI and a run. Gavin O'Brien tallied two runs, while adding a hit of his own.

After three scoreless innings, UMass took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth. O'Brien led off the frame with a single, before stealing second. With two outs, McCarthy hit a single, driving in O'Brien from second to score.

Mount St. Mary's pushed a run across the plate to knot the game up at 1-1, as Evan Meier hit a solo home run to left field in the sixth.

In the top of the eighth, the Minutemen reclaimed the lead, 4-1. With two outs, Will Briggs hit a single with Randen May entering the game as a pinch runner. May stole second with McCarthy at the dish, before McCarthy singled to bring home May, making it a 2-1 contest. Beverly followed with a double, placing McCarthy at third. An error by the third baseman then led to McCarthy crossing the plate for a 3-1 lead. Beverly went home from third on a single from Tirado to take the 4-1 lead.

The top of the ninth saw O'Brien score from third on Ty Fox's sacrifice fly to give Massachusetts a 5-1 lead. With the bases loaded, Sam Hill walked, allowing Kolben to cross home plate from third and make it a 6-1 game.

The Mountaineers were able to score three runs in the top of the ninth, including a 2-run single, but the Jack Niedringhaus struck out the final batter to hang on to give UMass the 6-4 victory.

Brandon Wingenroth recorded his first collegiate win after tossing for two complete innings, allowing no runs, one hit, one walk and striking out a career-best three. Jack Niedringhaus earned his first career save, going 1.2 innings with three runs, four hits, a walk and two strikeouts.
Callen Powers earned the start on the mound, pitching 5.1 innings and giving up one run on three hits, two walks and striking out three. 

Miami 11, Brown 8
Box Score
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.– The Miami University baseball team defeated Brown and lost to Indiana State Friday, posting an 11-8 comeback victory and an 11-3 loss, respectively. In game one, Tommy Harrison hit a three-RBI double in the eighth, leading Miami to a five-run final inning. In game two, Evan Appelwick hit his fourth homer of the season. Miami moves to 4-1 with the split while Brown moves to 0-1 and Indiana State moves to 2-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME ONE)
  • Carson Raether hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to put Miami out to a 1-0 lead.
  • Brown scored two runs on a string of three hits and an error in the top of the third to take the lead, 2-1.
  • In the top of the fourth, the Bears hit two homers to extend their lead to 4-1.
  • Two doubles, a walk, and a single pulled Brown up three more runs to 7-1 in the top of the fifth.
  • The RedHawks answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Ignacio Gonzalez led off with a walk and advanced to third on a single to right field by Diego Cruz. Marcus Dierks came up with an infield hit to score Gonzalez. Raether walked and Diego Cruz scored as Dominic Krupinski reached on a fielder's choice.
  • Miami loaded the bases on two walks and an HBP in the bottom of the sixth. Dierks and Raether each took an HBP to force in two runs, and a wild pitch advanced everyone to score one more, bringing the score to 7-6.
  • The Bears scored one run on two hits to take an 8-6 lead in the eighth.
  • Miami rallied in the bottom of the eighth. After two HBPs, a fielder's choice, and a wild pitch, Evan Appelwick earned his first hit of the day, a single to left field, to make it 8-8. The RedHawks reloaded the bases and Tommy Harrison hit a three-RBI double to the right field wall, reclaiming the lead for the RedHawks at 11-8.
  • Austin Berggren recorded three quick outs to cap off the comeback victory for Miami.
Eastern Michigan 7, Austin Peay 6
Box Score
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team broke through with a late offensive surge, highlighted by two home runs from Ty Stecko, to earn a 7-6 comeback win over defending Atlantic Sun Conference Regular Season Champion Austin Peay State University on Friday, Feb. 20 at Raymond C. Hand Park.
 
Along with Stecko (North Huntingdon/Norwin/Mount St. Mary's), strong pitching from John Carmichael (Destrehan, La./Destrehan/McLennan C.C.) set the tone on the mound, as he fanned a career-best eight batters while working five innings and walking one.
 
The Eastern bullpen followed suit with Carmichael, allowing a combined two runs off four hits in four innings of work.
 
Cole Egan (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny/George Mason) earned the win in relief, his first of the season, while sophomore Fischer Hendershot (Flushing, Mich./Flint Powers) closed the door in the ninth to secure the win and his first save of the year.

How it Happened
Eastern struck first when Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) singled in the opening inning and later homered to right in the third. Moments after, Stecko launched his first of two home runs on the day as the Eagles built a 3-0 cushion.
 
Austin Peay responded with runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-3 lead.

In the seventh, Nathan Borchardt (Stanley, N.C./East Lincoln/King) delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to bring home Zirwas and knot the score at four. Austin Peay briefly regained the lead, but a pivotal eighth inning turned the tide. With two on and one out, Stecko connected for a go-ahead three-run homer, plating Zirwas and John Hale (Ashland City, Tenn./Sycamore/Motlow State C.C.) to give EMU the decisive seven-run total.
 
The Governors scored one run in the bottom of the eighth, before Hendershot slammed the door in the bottom of the ninth for his first save of the season.

Central Michigan 9, Belmont 3
Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Central Michigan played small ball and its pitchers held the fort despite surrendering 13 hits on Friday as the Chippewas downed Belmont, 9-3, in the opener of a nonconference doubleheader at the Bruins' E.S. Rose Park.

A pair of Belmont left-handers held the Chippewas to six hits as the Bruins took the nightcap, 5-2, ending CMU's win streak at four games.

The Chippewas (4-2) and Bruins (2-4) play game three of their four-game series on Saturday (2 p.m.) and close the series on Sunday.

CMU took advantage of two Belmont errors and used a safety squeeze in scoring twice in the second inning of the opener, and then broke the game open with a six-runs fourth.

The Chippewas sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth when they used five hits – all singles – a hit batter, a walk and a sacrifice fly to score their runs. Miguel Correa Jr.'s two-run single was the big blow in the frame.

"Last week I felt like we were on the barrel all weekend and scored in some big ways and we kind of had to manufacture a little bit today," CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "It was good to see us be able to do that. We can score in different ways depending on who's in there in the lineup."

Chippewa pitchers Hayden Bailey and Jack Potteiger allowed 13 hits, but they combined to strike out nine and continually pitched out of trouble. The Bruins stranded 13 baserunners.