Richmond, Ky. -The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team split a pair of seven-inning contests with Tennessee-Martin on Sunday afternoon at Turkey Hughes Field. The Colonels (9-11, 3-2 Ohio Valley Conference) held the Skyhawks to three hits and rode a 3-for-4, three RBI performance by junior Brett Bolger to an 11-2 win in the opener. UTM (6-18, 2-3 OVC) rebounded in the second game and survived a rally by EKU in the bottom of the seventh to take a 6-5 victory.

Sophomore McKenzie Willoughby (3-1) threw 5.1 solid innings in the first game to pick up his second conference win. Willoughby surrendered six walks during his outing but made up for it by holding the Skyhawks to two hits, while fanning six batters. Eastern held a slim 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, but exploded for seven runs in the frame to put the game out of reach. EKU tallied seven of its 11 hits in the inning, highlighted by a two-run triple by freshman Lucas Waters and a three-run homer courtesy of junior Brett Bolger.

Eastern trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh in game two, but plated two runs off starter Justin Bryant (2-3) to pull within a run of the Skyhawks. With two on and two out, senior Will Whisenant ripped a single to score Waters and make it 6-4. UTM's Jason Moore tried to catch Whisenant off the bag on the play but threw the ball away and allowed Brett Bolger to score from third. With two outs and the tying run on second, UTM called on Mickey Dobson, who promptly struck out sophomore Shawn Flora to end the game and pick up his first save of the season.

The Colonels next head to Knoxville, Tenn., for a midweek non-conference game with the Volunteers on Tuesday, before heading to Murray State for a three-game set next weekend (April 9-10).

EKU 11, Tennessee-Martin 2
Eastern jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first and never trailed in game one. The Colonels scored two runs off UTM miscues, as an error by Brian Berryman allowed Brett Bolger to score the team's first run of the game. A throwing error by catcher Brett Spivy let senior Bryan Stevenson score Eastern's second run, before sophomore Tony Wells came through with an RBI double.

Willoughby issued free passes to the first three batters he faced in the third, leading to two runs by the Skyhawks. The sophomore hurler fanned the next batter he faced but then watched as a fielding error on a potential double play ball allowed two UTM runners to cross home plate and make it a 3-2 contest.

EKU pushed across one run in the fourth to go up 4-2, and the score remained that way heading into the sixth. UT Martin threatened in the top of the frame, as Willoughby put two runners on base (hit by pitch and a walk) with one out on the board. Junior Greg Harper came on in relief of Willoughby and induced an inning-ending 5-3 double play from Zach Parham. Harper pitched the final 1.2 innings for Eastern, surrendering one hit with two strikeouts.

After being held to four hits over the first five innings, EKU racked up seven hits in the bottom of the sixth to secure the victory. Brett Bolger stroked his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to right, and Waters added a two-run triple to Eastern's cause.

Stevenson and Wells added multi-hit efforts for the Colonels, while Wells and Waters tallied two RBI a piece. Brett Bolger led all players with three hits and three runs batted in.

Tennessee-Martin 6, EKU 5
Tied at 2-all through three innings, the Skyhawks took control by manufacturing two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. EKU's four errors proved costly, as just four of UT Martin's six runs were unearned in the game.

Freshman starter Shane Zegarac (1-2) ran into trouble in the top of the fourth as Zach Dean drew a leadoff walk, then moved up to third off a double by Berryman. With no outs and runners on second and third, senior Eric Anthrop took the mound in relief of Zegarac but was unable to prevent the runners from scoring. A sacrifice fly by Moore scored UTM's first run. The Skyhawks went ahead 4-2 when Hideaki Sato reached base on a fielding error by Waters, which allowed Berryman to score from third.

Whisenant pulled Eastern within a run, 4-3, in the bottom half by ripping his team-leading fifth home run of the season. The senior first baseman went 3-for-4 with a team-high two RBI in the losing effort. Leading by one, the Skyhawks managed to tack on two more unearned runs in the fifth, courtesy of a two-out, two-run single by Berryman. Anthrop held UT Martin scoreless the rest of the game, but the Colonel offense saw its comeback attempt fall just short in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Bryant (2-3) picked up the win for UTM after going 6.2 innings with five strikeouts.