Knoxville, Tenn. - Fifteen hits and a multi-homer effort from senior Bryan Stevenson wasn't enough to lead the Eastern Kentucky baseball team past No. 25 Tennessee on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Colonels (9-12) suffered a 14-6 defeat at the hands of the Volunteers (21-8), who were led by a 5-for-6 effort from freshman outfielder Julio Borbon.
Stevenson accounted for five of Eastern's six runs in the game, scoring two and driving in three. He tied senior Will Whisenant and sophomore Tony Wells with a team-high three hits in the loss. Stevenson's first home run gave the Colonels a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Tennessee answered with solo homers from Eli Iorg (his eighth) and Kelly Edmundson (his fourth) in the second and third innings, respectively, to go ahead 2-1.
The Volunteers tacked on three more runs off starter Brian Engle (1-3) in the bottom of the third, fueled by RBI singles from Chase Headley and J.P. Arencibia, to stretch their advantage to 5-1.
Stevenson added another solo jack in the top of the fourth for the first multi-homer game of his career. Eastern plated two more runs in top of the fifth to pull within a run, 5-4, but watched as Tennessee pushed across five runs in the bottom of the frame to put the game out of reach.
Freshman catcher Joe Oliver accounted for EKU's first run of the fifth inning, scoring from third off a RBI groundout by senior Derrick Bussell. Stevenson picked up his third RBI of the game moments later when freshman Lucas Waters scored off his bunt single. Eastern had an opportunity to go ahead with two on and one out, but Tennessee reliever Chris Howell fanned the next two batters to escape the jam.
A bases-clearing double by Michael Rivera sparked the Vols' big inning and helped the Vols go ahead 9-4 in the fifth.
EKU managed two more runs in the contest, off RBI singles from Waters and sophomore Tony Wells, but could not match the Vols' potency. Waters was the fourth Colonel to post a multi-hit game in the loss, joining the trio of Stevenson, Whisenant and Wells.
UT senior Joey Andrews pitched three shutout innings to close the game, holding Eastern to two hits with five strikeouts, for his second save of the year. Engle took the loss for EKU after allowing five runs over 3.0 innings of work.
The Colonels return to action this weekend when they head to Murray State for a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 9.
