PADUCAH, Ky. – Pitching down the road from his hometown, Justin Hayden extended his scoreless streak to 12 innings on Tuesday evening, but his efforts would go for naught as the University of Evansville baseball team dropped an 8-1 decision to Murray State at Brooks Stadium.
"Justin was outstanding," UE head coach Wes Carroll said. "We had him on a pitch count because we wanted to bounce him back for Sunday. What an outstanding performance against a quality offensive team like Murray State. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the big hit with runners in scoring position, and then they were able to extend the lead in 'winning time' with five runs in the seventh and eighth."
Hayden, a junior out of Mayfield, Ky., surrendered just three hits in five innings of work. However, in the sixth, the Racers (19-21) hopped on UE reliever Austin Allinger for three runs, including a Brandon Gutzler solo blast, to take the lead for good.
Allinger, a sophomore out of West Chester, Ohio, was pegged with the loss and dropped to 3-2 on the year.
Travis Tokarek reclaimed one of those runs for the Aces (13-26) with a solo home run off the scoreboard in the right center to make it 3-1. The junior catcher ended the day 2-for-4 at the plate.
MSU answered with a single score in the bottom half of the seventh, and a Davis Sims homer highlighted a four-run eighth.
UE attempted to mount a game-changing response in the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but Racer reliever Chad Gendron ended the threat with a strikeout and a groundout to keep UE off the board.
Gendron was credited with the save, his sixth, and Jack Hranec, who gave up five hits in 6.1 innings, earned the win to improve to 3-2.
The Aces and Racers will return to action on Wednesday night with the second and final game of the midweek series, which will be played at Charles H. Braun Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
NOTES: Hayden's 12-inning scoreless streak is the second-longest such run for the Aces this season … Travis Tokarek, who is now tied with Trey Hair for the team lead in homers with six, has hit five more homers this season than in his first two seasons combined … Since 1978, UE is 30-11 against Murray State … In that time, UE is 114-87-2 against schools from the state of Kentucky … UE is 1-5 against the Ohio Valley Conference this season.
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