A quartet of Morehead State pitchers combined to allow just two hits and strike out 11, and a pair of Eagle hitters blasted solo home runs, as the MSU baseball squad defeated North Carolina 4-1 on 2016 opening day at Durham Athletic Park.
Junior right-handed hurler Luke Humphreys (1-0) fanned four over the first five frames, and senior righties Patrick McGuff and Tyler Keele and junior lefthander Cable Wright shut the door with seven more punchouts and no hits allowed over the final four innings. Keele was credited with his sixth career save, tossing the bottom of the ninth. Wright struck out four in his two innings.
"I thought Luke definitely didn't have his best stuff today, but the mark of a good pitcher is that you find a way to hand around," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "And you can't say enough about our relief pitching. Those last four innings, those three guys were pretty dominant."
Humphreys walked five and allowed runners in scoring position in four of his five frames but got out of every situation virtually unscathed.
Freshman designated hitter Trevor Snyder and junior catcher Jimmy Wright smashed their first home runs of the year, while junior third baseman Alex Stephens (RBI double) and sophomore second baseman Braxton Morris (RBI ground out) also manufactured runs.
Stephens, Snyder, junior rightfielder Will Schneider and junior first baseman Jesus Carerra each smacked two hits, part of a nine-hit day for the Eagle offense. NCCU's two hits were both doubles.
"We will be good offensively in the long run, we just have inexperienced guys right now," McGuire added. "But, it's the first day out and we haven't been on a field until we practiced yesterday (at Louisburg College) for 12 days. We have athletic guys, and I know we will be all right once we get some more reps."
Cameron Scalzo took the loss, allowing three runs over the first 4.2 innings. The contest marked the first-ever game between the two schools.
MSU and NCCU are set to continue their three-game series on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
