Â鶹ÊÓƵ

No. 12 Â鶹ÊÓƵ baseball uses long ball to sweep Mid-Continent

Corey Rudolph

JACKSON, Tenn. - 4/16/2010 - The No. 12 Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Tenn.) University baseball team belted eight home runs in the double-header sweep of Mid-Continent (Ky.) University on Friday night. Â鶹ÊÓƵ won the first game 10-0 and then took game two 13-3, both in five innings. Â鶹ÊÓƵ (31-9) earned their 30th and 31st victories of the season, while also moving to 8-3 in the TranSouth. Mid-Continent dropped to 8-30 overall and 2-9 in league play.

In the first game, Â鶹ÊÓƵ jumped out to a quick lead when leadoff hitter, Grant Luke, hit a home run to start the scoring. Â鶹ÊÓƵ added a second run in the inning to lead 2-0. In the third, Â鶹ÊÓƵ scored four more runs and then ended the game in the fifth with four runs to win 10-0. Alex Turner, Beau Baker and Josh Jones each added home runs. Jones’ two-run blast ended the game in the bottom of the fifth. Danny Grimm led Â鶹ÊÓƵ with three hits while Turner led with three RBI. On the mound, senior ace Carl Harken (7-1) tossed a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits, striking out three batters and walking none during his five innings of work.

Game two started with home run, but this time from Mid-Continent’s Nathan Lawrence. The Cougars led 1-0. Â鶹ÊÓƵ however stormed back in the bottom of the frame to lead 4-1. Â鶹ÊÓƵ added three runs in the second, three in the third and three in the fifth to finish off the sweep. Single runs in the second and fifth for Mid-Continent gave the Cougars three for the game. Corey Rudolph hit two home runs and ended the game with a triple in the fifth. Rudolph led with seven RBI in the game with his 3-for-3 effort. Kevin Kirksey also was 3-for-3 in the game with an RBI and a run scored. Derek Copley (7-1) earned the win, tossing all five innings and allowing six hits and three runs, while striking out five batters.

Rudolph’s seven RBI in the game equaled Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s second all-time best RBI game total. Only Garrett Pepper’s eight RBI in 2004 is better. Rudolph improved his team-high batting average to .459 and now had an team-high 45 RBI. His seven home runs is good for second place, just one behind Josh Jones’ eight long balls on the season.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ and Mid-Continent will complete the three-game conference weekend series with a single game on Saturday at Â鶹ÊÓƵ at 12:00 p.m.

#UNION#

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