Murray State
9-9
Southern Miss
10-8
Baseball Ends Losing Streak With 11-6 Victory Over Southern Miss
3/17/2012 2:14:00 AM | Baseball
Murray State put an end to its losing streak by going on the road and defeating Southern Miss, 11-6, in the opening game of a three-game series at Pete Taylor Park.
The Breds (9-9) got on the board in the opening frame after Travis Isaak drew a one-out walk and scored on Mike Kozlowski's two-run blast to left center.
The Golden Eagles (10-8) answered in the home-half of the inning by taking advantage of a pair of wild pitches to push across two runs. Ashley Graeter drove in the first run with a single to right field before Blake Brown delivered a sacrifice fly to left field.
MSU regained the lead in the second as Paul Ritzheimer doubled to right center with two outs and scored on a Ty Stetson single to right field.
USM tied the game in the third on a Mason Robbins triple to right center, before pushing across three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-3 advantage.
The fifth inning proved to be the difference as a fielding error helped extend the inning and lead to five unearned runs with two outs. Jacob Rhodes started the inning by reaching on an error by second baseman. Kozlowski singled with one out, and Dylan Wheeler delivered a two-out base hit to load the bases. Noah Zipko drew a bases-loaded walk to score the first run, and Ritzheimer followed with a two-run double to left center. Stetson drove in a run with an infield single, while a second run scored on a throwing error on the play.
Starter Tyler Beers (2-1) settled down after the fourth inning and did not allow a run over the final four innings. He threw eight innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and four strikeouts.
The Breds added some insurance in the ninth as Isaak delivered an RBI double to left field, ahead of Kozlowski's RBI single to short and Brandon Eggenschwiler's bases loaded walk.
Chase Horn (0-3) took the loss after allowing five unearned runs on four hits and three walks over 1.2 innings.
Ritzheimer led the offense by going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored. Stetson and Kozlowski each added three hits as the Breds collected 14 as a team.
The Breds and Golden Eagles play the second game of the three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Beers, Tyler (2-1)
L: Chase Horn (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Isaak, Travis 1 ; Ritzheimer, Paul 2
HR: Kozlowski, Mike 1
RBI: Stetson, Ty 2 ; Isaak, Travis 1 ; Kozlowski, Mike 3 ; Eggenschwiler, Brandon 1 ; Zipko, Noah 1 ; Ritzheimer, Paul 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Stetson, Ty 1 ; Isaak, Travis 2 ; Rhodes, Jacob 1 ; Kozlowski, Mike 2 ; Wheeler, Dylan 1 ; Zipko, Noah 2 ; Ritzheimer, Paul 2
HBP: Wheeler, Dylan 1
Batting:
2B: Michael Sterling 1 ; Blake Brown 1
3B: Mason Robbins 1
RBI: Connor Barron 1 ; Michael Sterling 1 ; Ashley Graeter 1 ; Mason Robbins 1 ; Blake Brown 1 ; Chase Fowler 1
SH: Bradley Roney 1
SF: Blake Brown 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Connor Barron 3 ; Michael Sterling 1 ; Ryan Ellis 1 ; Chase Fowler 1
SB: Ashley Graeter 1 ; Chase Fowler 1
