Another strong pitching performance, coupled with just the right amount of offense, led the Morehead State baseball team to a 3-2 series-clinching win at Xavier Sunday.
MSU, which won 3-1 in the second contest Saturday, improved to 19-13. The Musketeers fell to 11-21. The teams were meeting for the first time since the 1995 season.
Senior righthander Patrick McGuff (3-3) scattered three hits and only allowed one earned run in 7.2 innings of work. Junior lefty Cable Wright got the Eagles out of the eighth inning, and senior closer Tyler Keele picked up his fifth save (and second in as many outings) by working a perfect ninth frame.
"It was good to see Pat pitch with confidence, and he kept the free bases to a minimum," said Head Coach Mike McGuire. "And it's always good when your closer can come in and work an uneventful ninth inning. Once again, we could have done a few things better situationally at the plate, but what counts is we got the win."
The Eagles' trio of pitchers limited the hosts to only three total hits, and all of those came from the eight and nine spots in the batting order.
Junior third baseman Alex Stephens got his team on the board with a solo homer in the second inning. Freshman designated hitter Trevor Snyder crushed a double off the wall in left field to plate freshman shortstop Reid Leonard in the third.
After Xavier scratched a run across in the bottom of the third, the Eagles went on top 3-1 with a bases loaded walk to junior first baseman Jesus Carrera in the fourth.
MSU had five hits as junior rightfielder Will Schneider extended his reached base streak to 24 games and upped his hitting streak to a team-best nine.
Morehead State will wrap up a nine-game road swing with a two-game set at Ohio State Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games will start at 6:35 p.m. ET.
