Morehead State senior righthander Matt Anderson struck out a career-high 16 Tennessee Tech batters in seven innings Saturday as the Eagle baseball team defeated TTU 6-1 at Allen Field to complete a three-game Ohio Valley Conference sweep.
The three victories this weekend marked the first three-game sweep over Tennessee Tech for an MSU squad since 1994. MSU won its sixth straight game to improve to 12-3 and 3-0 in the league, while Tech dipped to 6-8 overall and 0-3 in conference games.
Anderson (4-0) struck out every Tech batter in the starting lineup at least once and only surrendered two hits to the TTU designated hitter Ryan Flick. After giving up an RBI double in the first and falling behind 1-0, Anderson sat down 11 of the next 12 Golden Eagle hitters.
"Matt Anderson has worked hard in the last year or so and really has become a dominant pitcher," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "He has great command, and all four of his pitches were working well today."
His previous career high was 14 against Dayton in 2015, and he already has 41 strikeouts in 24.1 innings in 2016.
Anderson took advantage of an early MSU lead as the hosts scored four times in the bottom of the first and added the other two tallies in the bottom of the second.
The Eagles scored on a bases-loaded walk, a fielding error, and an RBI single by freshman designated hitter Trevor Snyder in the first. MSU added its final runs when junior rightfielder Will Schneider crushed his team-leading fourth home run of the year, a two-run smash, in the second.
Junior lefty Cable Wright and senior righty Tyler Keele cleaned up the back end of the game following Anderson. Wright got four outs, including a double play in the eighth, before Keele locked down the final two, including another strikeout.
Junior first baseman Jesus Carrera had a pair of hits, extending his reached-base streak to all 15 contests. Junior third baseman, MSU's leading hitter, added two hits, and Snyder also recorded a pair of hits.
Morehead State has a mid-week contest at Marshall slated for Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET before venturing to Southeast Missouri next weekend for OVC action.
