FLORENCE, Ky. – Urbana University dropped its Opening Day baseball contest to Ohio Valley by a final score of 7-5 Friday afternoon at UC Health Stadium.
UU’s bats went cold on a warm, blustery day in mid-February, and the Fighting Scots used a four-run sixth inning to slide past the Blue Knights. UU recorded just two hits after the second inning.
Second baseman Damario Brown and center fielder Nick Gallagher accounted for four of UU’s six total base knocks on the day. Brown went 2 for 4 with two RBI and Gallagher went 2 for 4 while producing one run.
Dylan Sheffer got the starting nod on the hill and put together a decent enough outing for the Blue and Grey. The junior righty went five and two-thirds with six strikeouts, but was handed the loss after allowing nine hits and five earned runs.
Sheffer was a strike away from getting out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth, but OVU’s Spencer Miller deposited an 0-2 pitch to center and a big inning ensued.
UU’s hitters picked up Sheffer though, responding with three runs in the top of the seventh to make it 6-5. Enmanuel Lopez drew a leadoff walk to knock OVU starter Chuck Emery out of the game, and UU took advantage of the switch by scoring all three runs on three walks and two errors.
Emery (1-1) earned the win from the mound for OVU. The right hander threw six innings of four-hit ball, allowing three earned runs and striking out four.
Both teams plated two runs in the second inning to get the scoring started.
UU catcher Tanner Davis led the frame off with a deep double off the right-field wall. Gallagher knocked him in two batters later on a single to center for UU’s first run. Later in the inning, Austin Mace and Brown connected on back-to-back, two-out singles to score the second Blue Knight run.
Dalton Greenwalt and Brad Hall pitched the final two-and-a-third for UU.
Both teams stranded six runners and UU did not commit an error. The Scots were charged for two errors in the field.
The two teams will return to the diamond for a doubleheader today. The first game is set to begin at noon inside UC Health Stadium.
