Richmond, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky baseball team suffered a pair of tough losses on Sunday at Turkey Hughes Field, falling to Bradley, 8-3, and IPFW, 10-8. The Colonels (1-4) stranded 14 runners in their loss to the Braves, then saw their saw their attempted comeback from a 10-2 deficit fall short against the Mastodons.
EKU returns to action next weekend, when it plays host to Oakland University for a three-game series beginning Friday. On Wednesday, the team will host "Meet the Colonels Night" at 7:30 p.m. in the Auxiliary Gym of McBrayer Arena. All fans are invited to visit meet the 2005 Colonels, who will sign autographs and posters during the event.
Bradley 8, EKU 3The Braves (3-2) scored five runs over the first three innings and rode 4.1 innings of scoreless relief from Derek Goins (1-1) to pick up their second win over the Colonels in as many days. Joe Napoli led Bradley with a 2-for-3 day at the plate and drove in three runs in the win. Eastern (1-3) received multi-hit efforts from sophomore Tony Wells and junior Keith Bolger, but stranded 14 runners (including three in the third and fourth).
EKU starter Nick Barte (0-1) allowed five runs over five innings, with all of the damage coming over the first three frames. Barte blanked the Braves in the fourth and fifth, but Eastern was never able to recover from its early deficit.
Eastern took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Wells scored off a RBI single from senior Will Whisenant, but Bradley responded by plating two runs in the bottom half. EKU tied the game at 2-all in the top of the third, as senior Derrick Bussell scored from third off a fielder's choice groundout by junior Chris O'Dell.
Three doubles, including a two-run shot from Joe Napoli, fueled a three-run third inning for the Braves and put the team on top for good. After leaving the bags full in the third, the Colonels repeated the trick in the fourth, then stranded two runners in both the eighth and ninth innings to help seal their fate.
The game remained close until the bottom of the eighth, when Bradley tacked on three insurance runs an 8-3 ball game. Senior reliever Eric Anthrop had shut down the Braves in the sixth and seventh innings, but could not escape the eighth unscathed.
Goins picked up the win by throwing 4.1 shutout innings, while surrendering five hits with no walks. Senior Brad Canada added a 2-for-4 effort, with one RBI, to Bradley's cause.
IPFW 10, EKU 8The Colonels trailed 10-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but mounted a comeback behind a solid relief effort from Shane Zegarac. The freshman hurler entered the game in the sixth and blanked the Mastodons over 4.0 innings by scattering three hits and walking just one hitter. But Eastern was unable to overcome its eight-run deficit as well as eight stolen bases and 16 hits by its opponent.
IPFW scored all 10 of its runs off EKU's first two pitchers, freshmen Eric Hash and Blake Anderson, but struggled against Zegarac. After failing to plate a run in the first, the Mastodons pushed across two runs off Hash in the second, thanks to RBI singles by Dustin Fremion and Brent Doty. The 'Dons then struck for four runs off four hits in the third, including an RBI double by Tyler Fowler. Anderson came on and got the Colonels out of the inning, then pitched a scoreless fourth. IPFW's bats returned to life in the fifth as the team manufactured four more runs to make it an eight-run game, 10-2.
Eastern had led 2-0 at the start of the game, thanks in part to O'Dell's second home run of the season. Bussell scored from third off a wild pitch to put EKU ahead 1-0, then O'Dell homered to right center moments later to put the home team on top, 2-0. O'Dell went 2-for-3 on the day but reached base in four out of his five at-bats by drawing two walks. Bussell went 3-for-3 at the plate (the first three-hit game of the year by EKU), stole two bases and drove in a pair of runs for the Colonels.
EKU went quietly over the next three innings before a sacrifice fly from Bussell, scoring junior Keith Bolger, made it 10-3 in the fifth. The Colonels came to life in the sixth as a two-run single by Sean Ryan fueled a four-run inning. Ryan responded to his first start of the year by going 2-of-5 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI.
Junior Bryan Stevenson came through with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to pull EKU within two runs, 10-8, but three pitchers combined to shutdown the Colonels in the ninth and secure the win. Sophomore Paul Rice recorded the final two outs to pick up his first save of the year.
Ryan Steinbach went 4-for-5 at the plate, with three runs scored, to lead IPFW, while Caleb Smith and Dustin Fremion added a pair of three-hit games. Fremion led the Mastodons on the base paths with three of the team's eight stolen bases.
