Sophomore lefthander Aaron Leasher and senior righty Tyler Keele combined for 17 strikeouts, including each fanning six straight at different points of the game Saturday, as the Morehead State baseball team evened its series with Xavier with a 3-1 victory. The Musketeers claimed the opener 7-1 in a game resumed from Friday.
Morehead State moved to 18-13 on the year, while Xavier sits at 11-20.
"We couldn't have pitched it better than we did with Aaron and Tyler," said Head Coach Mike McGuire.
"Aaron was dominant for seven innings and really didn't get into trouble, he just gave up a couple of singles. Tyler had command of the strike zone. Offensively, in the second game, we could have done a few things better situationally and we probably would have had a chance to win five or six to one,” added McGuire.
Leasher (4-1) struck out 11 over seven frames, throwing 121 pitches, and Keele picked up his fourth save by sitting down the final six outs on punchouts. Leasher retired the first 12 batters he faced.
At the plate, the Eagles scored all their runs in the third inning. Freshman designated hitter Trevor Snyder nailed his seventh double of the season to drive in freshman shortstop Reid Leonard and junior centerfielder Ryan Kent. Freshman catcher Hunter Fain, who has now reached base in all 24 games he's appeared in, then singled home Snyder.
Snyder, Fain and Leonard each totaled two hits, part of a 10-hit day for the Eagles. Junior rightfielder Will Schneider tallied a single to extend his reached-base streak to 23 contests.
In the opener, Xavier took a 5-1 lead in the seventh inning before play was suspended Friday due to heavy rain and cold temperatures. The hosts added another tally on a bases loaded walk in the seventh and scored their final run in the eighth.
Senior righthander Matt Anderson recorded six strikeouts to up his season total to 67 but walked four in the seventh to put himself in a precarious position. He absobed the loss to fall to 4-1.
Zac Lowther surrendered just five hits and the one run in seven frames to improve to 3-3. Schneider finished with two hits, including an RBI double in the fourth.
The teams are set to conclude the non-conference series on Sunday. Game time has been pushed back one hour to 1 p.m. ET.
