MOREHEAD, Ky. – Senior leftfielder Nick Newell batted 6-for-10 with three doubles, and a home run in each game, as the Morehead State baseball team completed a series sweep over SIU Edwardsville with a pair of wins Saturday at Allen Field.
The Eagles scored 10 runs in the first three frames of game one to cruise to a 13-5 win, then used a three-run round-tripper by Newell in the eighth inning of the nightcap to erase a 9-8 Cougar lead and win 11-9.
Morehead State, which has won 14 of its last 15 games, improved to 25-14 and 11-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles are just four wins shy of tying the 2014 team’s win total. SIUE, which entered the weekend in second place, slid to 12-20 overall and 12-9 in the league.
In game two, the Eagles built a 5-1 lead after three stanzas but then witnessed the visitors score the next seven runs. MSU plated a pair in the sixth and tied the game 8-8 on freshman designated hitter Tyler Niemann’s leadoff homer in the seventh. It was just his second four-bagger this year.
Centerfielder Denton Reed singled off MSU reliever Aaron Goe to begin the eighth and scored on a single by designated hitter Keaton Wright.
Newell, who finished with eight RBI in the two games, got ahold of a 1-1 pitch by Brett Thomas with two outs in the eighth and smacked it over the right-field fence. Newell, who leads the OVC with 20 doubles, now has an 18-game hitting streak and is tied with senior rightfielder Brandon Rawe for the conference lead in hits with 64.
Rawe, who homered in game one, had a pair of hits in each contest to extend his hitting streak to a team-best 20 games. That ties former Eagle Bobby Burns for the longest in the last three seasons under McGuire.
Senior shortstop Robby Spencer and sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kent each upped their hitting streaks to 18 games as well. Spencer launched his team-high eighth home run in the third inning of game two.
MSU piled on 11 hits in the first three innings of the opener. Newell crushed a three-run blast over the fence in the first inning.
Reed, rightfielder Dustin Woodcock and second baseman Chase Green recorded 4-for-8 days at the plate for the Cougars. Reed and Woodcock notched home runs, and first baseman Alec Saikal drilled two homers in the second contest.
MSU starter Craig Pearcy surrendered 10 hits but only three runs in the first five frames in the opener to move to 2-3. Freshman righty Brent Stoneking tossed the final four and earned his second career save. The loss was pinned on P.J. Schuster, who was roughed up for 10 runs on 14 hits.
In the second game, reliever Aaron Goe allowed the go-ahead run in the eighth but was the beneficiary of Newell’s heroics to move to 4-0. Thomas was saddled with the loss.
Morehead State will travel to Ohio State for a pair of mid-week non-conference games. The teams are scheduled to play a single game Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. ET.
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