MOREHEAD, Ky. – SIUE baseball hit a school-record nine home runs Friday on its way to a 23-8 rout of Morehead State in seven innings in the opener of a three-game series at Sonny Allen Field.
The two most prolific home run hitting teams in the Ohio Valley Conference didn't disappoint, combining for 13 home runs total in the conference opener for both teams.
SIUE improved to 1-0 in OVC play and 9-13 overall. Morehead State is 0-1 in the league and 11-11 overall.
Mack Mitchell gave the Cougars the early lead, with a one-out single in the first inning. He drove home Chase Bloomer who singled to lead off the game.
The Cougars then scored nine times in the second inning thanks to four home runs, all coming with two outs.
Bloomer hit his third home run of the year, a two-run shot, to extend the lead to 3-0. Ryan Niedzwiedz and Mitchell walked after the Bloomer home run before Joshua Heyder blasted his fourth home run of the year to make it 6-0. Terrick Thompson-Allen then connected on his sixth of the year following an infield single by Ethan Willoughby. After a walk to Brenden Fry, Sean Kang sent his first home run of the year into right field to push the lead out to 10-0.
A Jaden Correa two-run home run in the bottom of the inning got Morehead State on the board.
Heyder hit his second of the day in the third, which followed a pair of walks and made it 13-2 Cougars.
It was 13-4 in the fifth when the Cougars added two more home runs. Mitchell led off the inning with his seventh home run of the year and Willoughby homered after Heyder walked and SIUE led 16-4.
Aubrey Kearns hit a two-run home run for the Eagles in the bottom of the inning to make it 16-6.
The Cougars went ahead 20-6 with a four-run sixth inning. Thompson-Allen's second home run of the game (a two-run homer) was the eighth of the game, to tie the SIUE record. Mitchell scored on a passed ball and Willoughby added an RBI-triple.
Bloomer's second home run of the night in the seventh inning was the ninth of the night to break the school record and give SIUE a 21-6 lead. Mitchell scored on a wild pitch and Thompson-Allen added an RBI-single in the inning.
Morehead State scored twice in the bottom of the seventh.
Tim Teixeira (2-3) gave up six runs over five innings for his second consecutive win. He struck out five and walked one. Porter Conn allowed two runs over an inning and a third. Joseph Martin pitched the final third of an inning. He struck out one.
Thompson-Allen finished the night 4-5 with five RBIs. Bloomer was 4-6 with three RBIs. Mitchell and Willoughby each had three hits.
Landon Waugh (0-3) surrendered five runs in just an inning and a third to take the loss for the Eagles.
