The Ashland University baseball team came away with two more wins on Monday (Feb. 25) as the Eagles concluded their first road trip with a 3-0 record and will take an unblemished mark on their Florida spring trip next week.
Ashland held off Rockhurst, 7-5, in the first game Monday before blanking host Trevecca Nazarene, 6-0, in Nashville.
The Eagles got outstanding starting pitching with sophomore right-hander Josh Stover limiting Rockhurst to just two runs on five hits in six innings of work. Senior righty Devin Peters followed it up by tossing seven shutout innings while matching a career high of 11 strikeouts. He allowed just four baserunners.
In the opener, the Eagles got on the board in the second inning when senior Sam Hawley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. A sac fly by senior Matt Littrell gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead in the third.
The Hawks cut the margin to 2-1 in the fourth, but freshman Michael Haley's sac fly scored junior Michael Rogers, who walked, to give Ashland a 3-1 lead. Rockhurst got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on its own sac fly.
An RBI double by sophomore Micah Allen and a sac fly and an error following that pushed AU ahead 5-2 in the sixth. Junior Garett Robberts' bases-loaded walk in the seventh gave the Eagles a 6-2 lead, but Rockhurst rallied in the seventh to score three times after Stover exited.
The Eagles turned to sophomore right-hander Max Frederick in the eighth and he retired the side in order. Senior Chris Slavik came on in the ninth and pitched around a single and a walk by striking out his final two batters to seal the win.
Sophomore Austin Eifrid led the Eagles offensively, going 3-for-5 with a walk. Allen was 2-for-6 as the pair combined for five of Ashland's seven hits.
In Game 2, Peters gave up two one-out singles in the first inning, then allowed just one hit and one walk over the rest of his outing. He retired the last 12 batters he faced, including eight via strikeout.
Eifrid and Hawley each reached base to start the first inning before Eifrid eventually scored with the help of a Trevecca error to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles made it 3-0 in the second on Eifrid's RBI groundout, and another TNU error let another run in.
Sophomore Logan Stoldt led off the sixth with a homer and had an RBI single in the ninth to cap the scoring. Eifrid's squeeze bunt in the eighth scored another run.
Junior lefty Josh Smith tossed 2/3 scoreless innings in relief before sophomore right-hander Perry Bewley struck out four and walked a batter in his 1 1/3 innings to finish the game.
Stoldt and sophomore Dillan Smith each had two hits while Stoldt and Eifrid each drove in two runs. Littrell was 1-for-2 with a double, two walks and two runs.
The Eagles will return to the field on Saturday, March 2 as they open their spring trip to Florida with a noon game against Seton Hill.
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