Early Offense Enough as 'Breds Win Slugfest

Wednesday, March 18

Conway, Ark.

2 p.m.

Murray State

Central Arkansas

3/18/2009 5:00:00 AM | Baseball

The Murray State offense scored at least one run in the third through seventh innings and held of a furious Central Arkansas rally to hold on for a 13-11 victory in the second game of the two-game series at Bear Stadium.

The 'Breds (13-5) found their offense in the third as Elliot Frey walked and was sacrificed to second by Kyle Tiernan. Zach Noonan plated Frey with a double just inside the bag at third. With two outs, Tyler Owen delivered a run-producing double into the gap in right center and Laws followed with an RBI single to center field.

MSU sent nine men to the plate in the fourth and pushed across five runs to open up and eight-run lead. The inning started with a Bryan Propst walk, followed by a Daniel Miller base on balls and a Frey single through the left side. Tiernan plated Propst from third with a sacrifice fly to center field. UCA looked like they had the damage minimized as they got a pop up on the infield for the second out.

The 'Breds had other ideas as Wes Cunningham plated two runs with a single back through the middle. Owen followed with an RBI double into left center and Jason Laws followed with a run-scoring single up the middle.

MSU scored for its third-straight inning in the fifth as Frey hit a solo home run to left center.

UCA (11-7) got on the board in the fifth as Bobby Pritchett tripled into right center and scored on Jordan Getchell's single to left center. The Bears pushed across their second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right center off the bat of Eric Tennyson.

The offense respoded for MSU in the sixth as Noonan walked and scored on Cunningham's line-drive home run to right center. A pair of walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs before a wild pitch allowed the third run of the inning to score.

The Bears got one run back in the sixth on Dillon Smith's solo home run to center.

MSU answered again in the seventh as a throwing error put runners on second and third with no outs. Laws drove in the runner from third with a sacrifice fly to center field.

The Bears made the game interesting late as they got a two-run homer from Blake Roberts in the seventh and three-run shots from Throneberry and Richey Irvin in the eighth.

Matt McGaha (1-0) picked up the victory in his first appearance this season as he allowed one run on three hits over 1.2 innings. Dustin Ward (0-3) took the loss after giving up three runs on five hits over three innings. Daniel Calhoun (1) picked up the save by pitching a perfect ninth inning.

The offense was paced by Cunningham who went 2-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs. Noonan and Laws each collected two hits and drove in three runs, while Frey was 2-for-2 with a home run, three walks and three runs scored. Owen added a pair of RBI doubles.

The 'Breds return to the diamond March 21 against Jacksonville State in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams. The doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m.