Baseball falls in three games to Murray State

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3

NORMAL – The Alabama A&M baseball team fell 11-1, 16-4 and 5-1 to the Racers of Murray State over the weekend.

Game one saw Murray State scored 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on their way to an 11-1 victory over Alabama A&M Friday afternoon at Reagan Field. The run allowed with two outs in the seventh was the first the Breds allowed in 18 innings.

The Breds got the rally going quickly with a single to right field to start the inning. MSU’s Paul Ritzheimer delivered a one-out RBI single through the left side and that was followed with a walk to load the bases. Brandon Elliott was then hit by a pitch to score the runner from third.

The Bulldogs finally got on the board in the seventh inning as a two-out walk sparked a rally. Back-to-back hits, the second a single through the left side by Patrick Dodson, scored the runner from second.

Allen Belue (0-6) took the loss after allowing seven runs on seven hits and four walks over 3.1 innings. Sanchez Tucker closed out the game striking out one and giving up four runs on five hits.

Austin Hulsey was the only Bulldog to post multiple hits. Eight different Maroon & White players secured a hit in the first contest of the series.

Game two saw the top three hitters in the Murray State lineup combined to go 10-for-17 with nine RBIs as the Breds handed A&M a 16-4 defeat Saturday afternoon in the middle game of the three-game series.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the second inning as Julio Nunez delivered a single to left center, stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Cornelius Woods drove in the runner with a single down the left-field line.

The Breds came right back in the bottom of the inning and took advantage of a pair of errors to score seven unearned runs. Noah Zipko reached second on a throwing error by the shortstop with one out. West drew a walk with two outs and Ritzheimer drove in the first run with a single to left field. Stetson followed with an RBI single of his own, and Elliott single to left field to load the bases. Eggenschwiler drove in a pair of runs with a single to right field.

That looked to be the end of the damage for the Bulldogs as starter Josh Freeman got a fly ball to center field with two outs. That was not the case as the center fielder dropped the ball, allowing three runs to score.

AAMU was able to score two more runs in the third as Patrick Dodson drove in a run with a single to right center, before scoring on a Bradley Black single to center field.

The lead grew to double digits in the seventh as Elliott singled through the left side to score West from second. West had started the inning with a double to right center. Eggenschwiler followed with a run-scoring double of his own to left center.

Josh Freeman (2-9) suffered the loss after giving up 10 runs, three earned, on seven hits over three innings. The Maroon & White posted their 11^th match with double digit hits posting 10 on three different Racer pitchers. Deon Hall and Dodson each recorded three hits while Julio Nunez finished 2 of 4 at the plate with a run.

On the final day of the weekend series Murray State handed AAMU a 5-1 defeat Sunday afternoon to complete the three-game sweep of the Bulldogs at Johnny Reagan Field.

Pitching took center stage in the finale as starter Cody Maerz (2-2) allowed six hits and struck out three over five shutout innings. Reliever Andrew Bramley allowed one unearned run on two hits and three strikeouts over 3.2 innings. Brock Downey was credited with the save as he retired the only hitter he faced in the ninth.

The Bulldogs (3-36) got a run in the sixth as Bradley Black was hit by a pitch with one out. He later stole second, and went to third on the throwing error. After a walk put runners on the corners, the Bulldogs executed the double steal to score the run.

Caleb Brown earned the loss (0-6) after striking out four but giving up nine hits and four runs in six innings of work. Cornelius Woods and Dylan Johnson each recorded two hits.

Next up A&M will travel to Cookeville, Tennessee to face the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech in a 6:00 p.m. midweek contest on Tuesday, April 23^rd.

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