Game 1 Box Score | Game 1 Box Score (PDF)
Game 2 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score (PDF)
ATHENS, Ohio – Morehead State junior third baseman Rebecca Butler hit a three-run home run in both games of a doubleheader at Ohio University Sunday to tie the MSU career record, and the Eagles claimed both ends of the double dip, 10-8 and 12-7.
Butler’s pair of round-trippers gave her four for the season and now 17 for her career to tie Nola Queen atop the home run leader board. MSU improved to 6-9, while the Bobcats fell to 4-15.
Senior pitcher Alex Gjevre picked up her second win of the year in the opener. Junior Rebecca Butler and freshman Anna Sommer each homered, and freshman Amber Riddle totaled three of the Eagles’ 12 hits.
In the first game, the Eagles jumped on the Bobcats in the first inning as Butler crushed a no-doubt homer off Emily Wethington (3-5) over the wall in left field and off the roof of the indoor hitting facility for a three-run lead. Bethany Ellis – who reached via bunt – and Riddle, who reached via a fielding error, scored on the homer.
MSU added a run in the second inning when freshman Sommer connected on her first career home run – a towering shot to left field.
The Eagles put a five-spot on the scoreboard in the third inning. Riddle smashed a single to right center and went to second on a fielding error in the outfield. After a walk to Butler, Bianca Cardenas moved the MSU duo to second and third. Another fielding error at second base allowed Riddle to cross the plate, and then Kayla Ashbrook drove in the sixth and seventh runs with a single up the middle. Sommer plated runs eight and nine on yet another single up the middle to score Courtney Seiler and Ashbrook.
The game went to a 10-0 Eagle lead in the fourth. Butler reached on a fielder’s choice infield grounder and scored from first base when Cardenas laced a single into right field. Ohio right fielder Melissa Bonner let the ball go through to the fence and Butler motored all the way around the bases.
The Bobcats got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a quartet of runs. Bonner hit a bases-loaded single that dropped into short center field to score two runners, and Jordan Paden plated two more with an infield single to second base.
OU crept closer with two runs in the sixth. Paige Kemezis drove in with a double, and Jillian Van Wagnen plated one with a single. In the seventh, the Bobcats got the game to within two as Kemezis doubled home a pair off MSU reliever Ashley Boyd. Gjevre came back into the circled to close out the contest.
Riddle was 3-for-4 at the plate, while Ashbrook and Sommer were 2-for-4. OU finished with nine hits, and Gjevre struck out seven hitters.
In the second game the runs were a little more difficult to come by – until the late innings that is.
The Bobcats finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth as Emily Wethington lined a one-out single to right field to score Shalene Petrich. Pitcher Courtney Colvin later cracked the game wide open, at 4-0, with a three-run clout over the wall in left field.
The Eagles were able to capitalize on a few Bobcat mistakes in the fifth as they rallied to tie the game. Sam Sparks scored first via an infield fielding error and then MSU scored three consecutive times on wild pitches thrown by Colvin. Elizabeth Wagner, Cardenas, and pinch runner Brook McCartney all moved around the bases and each scored on a wild pitch.
MSU took the 10-4 lead in the sixth with six runs. With the bases loaded, Wagner attempted a sacrifice squeeze bunt. Initially, Sommer was called out at home on catcher Caitlyn Saucedo’s tag, but after an umpires’ conference the call was reversed and MSU had a 5-4 advantage.
Two batters later, Riddle increased the Eagle lead to 7-4 with a solid two-run single into left field that scored Seiler and Sparks. Butler then tied the career homer record on the next pitch as she sent a Melissa Bonner pitch again off the hitting shed over the left field wall.
The Bobcats climbed a little closer with a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Colvin rapped a one-out RBI double, and Kemezis smashed her third two-run double of the day off MSU reliever Wagner who had come in for starter Sarah Funston.
However, the Eagles got two runs back in the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded, Wagner nailed a single that ricocheted off third base to score Seiler. Cardenas drew a walk with the sacks loaded to score Ashbrook.
Brill ad two hits – both doubles – and Ashbrook also collected a pair of hits. Butler had the three RBI while Riddle and Ashbrook tallied two RBI each.
Funston picked up the win to improve to 4-3.
The Eagles travel to Butler for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 16 at 2 p.m.
