MARION, Ill. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball was knocked out of the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with a 7-2 loss to Little Rock Friday evening at Mt. Dew Park in Marion, Illinois. USI, the eighth seed, concludes the season, 29-29, while Little Rock, the fourth seed, advances with a 33-26 mark.
The Screaming Eagles conclude the season with a Division I-best 29 victories and matched their longest run in the OVC Championship.
USI trailed from the opening frame as Little Rock scored two runs to lead, 2-0. The Screaming Eagles cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third inning when graduate centerfielder
Khi Holiday scored when senior first baseman
Patrick McLellan singled and advanced to third on an error.
The Trojans responded with two more runs in the bottom of the third to lead 4-1 before the Screaming Eagles got back on the scoreboard. Junior third baseman
Parker Martin hit his second home run of the championship and his fourth of the season to close the gap to 4-2.
Martin concluded USI's run in the tournament with a .412 average (7-17) with three runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, and a team-high seven RBI. Graduate outfielder
Noah Foster led the USI hitters by batting .538 (7-13).
The 4-2 deficit would be as close as USI would come the rest of the game as Little Rock would add one more in the sixth and two more in the eighth for the eventual 7-2 final.
On the mound, senior left-hander
Jake Porter took the loss for the Screaming Eagles. Porter (3-2) allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits.
