Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
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'Breds Drop Game 3 To Skyhawks 9-4
5/7/2006 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Murray State Thoroughbreds went after an Ohio Valley Conference sweep of visiting Tennessee-Martin, but were unable to take their final home game of the season, falling to the Skyhawks 9-4.
Despite the loss, Murray State (15-34, 8-13 OVC) moved from eighth place into a three-way tie for seventh with Tennessee-Martin and Southeast Missouri State, which was swept in a double-header today by Eastern Kentucky. Samford leads the conference at 16-5, followed by Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State at 13-8, Eastern Kentucky at 12-8 and Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech at 10-11. Morehead State is in the cellar at 6-14 (Tennessee State does not field a baseball team). The top six teams qualify for the O'Reilly OVC Championship Tournament, and each team has six scheduled OVC games remaining in the regular season.
The Skyhawks (19-29, 8-13 OVC) jumped on Murray State pitching early, pounding out four hits in the first inning, but only able to score one run. The 'Breds responded in the bottom of the first when James Akin hit a one-out single, then stole second and scored on Jason Payton's double to tie the game at 1-1.
Tennessee-Martin scored two runs in the second inning and another in the third before MSU responded. Brett Mullins led off the third inning with a double, then scored on Chaz Ebert's single to narrow the deficit to 4-2.
In the fifth inning, the Skyhawks broke the game open with four runs on three hits and four walks to take an 8-2 lead, but the 'Breds answered in the bottom half of the inning. Justin Yount led off the inning with a walk, then went to second on a balk. Ebert doubled him in to cut the UTM lead to 8-3.
Murray State tacked on another run in the sixth inning when Tyler Owen drew a one-out walk, then went to second on a balk. He then went to third on another balk, then scored on a single by Yount to cut the Skyhawk lead to 8-4. Tennessee-Martin added a run in the seventh inning for the final score.
Starter Andrew Bishop (2-7, 1-5 OVC) took the loss for the 'Breds, allowing four runs on seven hits, striking out one and walking two in two-plus innings. Marc Harmon came on in the third and found trouble in the fifth inning, allowing four runs on five hits, striking out two and walking three in 2-2/3 innings. West Harris entered in the fifth inning and pitched well for Murray State, allowing one run on five hits, striking out three and walking two in 4-1/3 innings.
For UTM, starter Ryan Rockholt (4-5, 4-2 OVC) got the win, allowing four runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking three in six-plus innings. Derek Link got his first save of the season, allowing no runs on two hits, striking out two and walking none in three innings.
At the plate, Ebert, Akin and Payton each had two hits to lead Murray State, while Ebert, Payton, Mullins and Tyler Pittman each had doubles, Pittman gaining his league-leading 17th of the season.
For Tennessee-Martin, Zach Dean went 5-for-5 with a double, a triple, two runs scored and two runs batted in. Jason Hockaday went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Lance Renton and Brett Spivy also doubled for UTM.
In the field, first baseman Brett Wilson had a co-game-high 10 putouts, while second baseman Akin and shortstop Yount each had a game-high six assists. For the Skyhawks, first baseman Hockaday had 10 putouts, while shortstop Renton had five assists.
"I was really optimistic coming in," said MSU head coach Rob McDonald. "We were ready to go. It's not from lack of effort; our guys are trying their hardest -- there may be some who are trying too hard. We didn't pitch very well, and -- for the third game of a conference series -- we didn't swing our bats very well, either. They played better than us. A good friend of ours came up to me and said, 'Well, at least you got two out of three,' and that is usually a good thing, but at this point in the season, that's not what we needed to do today.
"If our guys were ever going to quit, that would have happened a long time ago, with all of the stuff they've gone through over the course of this year. They're going to come out (at Austin Peay next weekend) and give us a great effort and, hopefully, things will bounce our way, and maybe we can get a bunch of these last six."
Murray State will next play at Austin Peay on Saturday and Sunday, with the Saturday double-header beginning at 1 p.m. and the Sunday game also beginning at 1 p.m. Those games can be heard locally through WRKY (1130 AM, Murray) and worldwide through the official Web site for Murray State athletics, www.GoRacers.com.
