Richmond, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky baseball team rallied from a 5-0 first-inning deficit to post an 11-5 win over IPFW on Friday in the team's 2005 home opener. The Colonels (1-1) banged out 16 hits in the game, led by three a piece from Tony Wells and Will Whisenant, and plated seven runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The Mastodons (0-1) opened their season by pushing across five runs on EKU in the top of the first. Eastern Kentucky starting pitcher Shane Zegarac was unable to escape the first inning, as the freshman hurler issued a free pass to four batters and threw two wild pitches, allowing IPFW to plate five runs in the frame off just one hit.

Senior Andy Polzin (1-0) came on in relief of Zegarac and threw 4.2 scoreless innings to pick up his first win of the season. The EKU bullpen shutdown the Mastodons, as four pitchers combined to blank IPFW over the final eight innings. The Dons managed just five hits on the day, two of which came courtesy of Ryan Keena.

Polzin's pitching kept IPFW in check and paved the way for an EKU comeback. After failing to manufacture a run over the first three innings, including the bottom of the first when the team stranded three runners, the Colonels exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to go up 7-5.

Junior Keith Bolger drew a one-out walk to get things going, then senior Derrick Bussell followed with a single. After Drew Reynolds reached on a throwing error, which allowed Keith Bolger and Bussell to score, IPFW went to the bullpen and brought in Trevor Carpenter (0-1). The move didn't stop the Colonel offense, however, as EKU proceeded to tally six-consecutive hits off Carpenter.

Junior Brett Bolger made it a 5-3 ball game with an RBI base knock, then Wells followed with his third double of the game to drive in Brett Bolger and bring Eastern within one, 5-4. Junior Chris O'Dell and senior Adam Visnic kept the rally alive with back-to-back singles, then Whisenant tied the game at 5-all with an RBI base hit. With the game tied, senior Bryan Stevenson came through with a two-run single to give the Colonels a 7-5 edge.

Eastern's offense went quietly in the fifth, but struck for two more runs in the sixth sparked by O'Dell first home run of the year, a solo shot to left. Stevenson followed a few batters later with a run-scoring single to bring his RBI total to a team-high three.

Freshman Aaron Landis pushed Eastern's advantage to five runs, 10-5, with a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Whisenant then added an insurance run in the eighth with his first round tripper of the season, marking the third run of the day for EKU's first baseman.

Six different Colonels registered multi-hit games on the afternoon, paced by the three-hit efforts of Whisenant and Wells. EKU was active on the base paths, finishing with six stolen bases, led by two a piece from Brett Bolger and Stevenson.

Greg Harper (1.1 innings) and Eric Anthrop (1.2 innings) sent the Colonels into the ninth with a comfortable lead before Casey Howard closed the door on IPFW with a scoreless ninth.

Carpenter took the loss for the Mastodons after allowing 10 hits and six runs (three earned) over 2.2 innings. IPFW did manage to draw nine walks in the losing effort.

The Colonels next play on Saturday afternoon, when they face Bradley at 2 p.m. The Braves will face IPFW in the day's first action at Turkey Hughes Field (10 a.m.).