Paducah, Ky. - In his first collegiate start against a Division-I opponent, sophomore Casey Howard (2-0) allowed just one unearned run over a career-high 7.0 innings to lead Eastern Kentucky to a 7-2 win over Murray State. The Colonels (26-30) advance in the 2005 O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament to face the loser of tonight's game between Jacksonville State and Austin Peay, tomorrow at noon (EDT).

After allowing an unearned run to the Thoroughbreds (28-31) in the top of the first, Howard threw six-consecutive scoreless innings to help EKU stave off elimination for the second-straight game and advance to Saturday.

"We got a great performance from Casey Howard and then [Richard Boothe] and Andy (Polzin) came back to pitch again, and that's what its going to take when you get to this position," said EKU head coach Elvis Dominguez. "I'm so proud of this group – probably more so than any group I've ever had – because we could have very easily packed it in when we lost all our pitching but here we are. We're still playing and the worst we can finish is third, and we're just doing it on pure adrenaline."

Murray's Chaz Ebert opened the game by reaching base off a dropped fly ball by senior Derrick Bussell in center. Ebert came around to score off a sacrifice fly by Clint Griggs to give the 'Breds a short lived 1-0 lead. The Thoroughbreds had a chance to do more damage in the frame, with runners on second and third, but Howard got Austin Swain to fly out to right to end the threat.

Bussell, who went 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBI in the win, more than made up for his fielding error, as the Brodhead, Ky.-native drove in EKU's first two runs to put Eastern on top 2-1. Bussell plated freshman Lucas Waters in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 1-all, then drove in senior Adam Visnic in the fifth to give the Colonels a 2-1 advantage.

With Howard cruising, Eastern added another run in the sixth before plating three in the bottom of the seventh. Murray's Jon Ross Shelton (2-7) went 5.1 innings with three runs, five hits and five walks allowed for the 'Breds. Matt Scalfani came on in relief of Shelton, but was unable to keep Murray in the game.

Bussell and junior Brett Bolger opened the seventh with back-to-back singles and then moved up off a sacrifice bunt by senior Bryan Stevenson. After Murray intentionally walked senior Will Whisenant to load the bases, Dominguez called on pinch hitter Aaron Landis, who delivered a two-run single to break the game wide open. Sophomore Tony Wells followed with a run-scoring single of his own to extend Eastern's advantage to five runs, 6-1.

Senior Andy Polzin took the mound at the start of the eighth. After retiring the first batter he faced, Polzin issued consecutive walks to Tyler Pittman and Swain. He managed to strikeout Brett Wilson for the second out, but Michal Perconte came through with a two-out RBI single to give Murray hope. The senior stayed on to try and close out the inning, but came out of the game after loading the bases with a walk to Brett Mullins. Eastern turned to senior closer Richard Boothe, who entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded, and promptly forced leadoff hitter Chaz Ebert to line out to second to end the inning.

Leading 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Bussell helped Eastern pick up an insurance run by setting the table with his fourth hit of the game off reliever Charlie Wade. After stealing second (his 32nd stolen base of the year), Bussell came around to score off a RBI single from Stevenson to make it a 7-2 contest.

Boothe closed out the 'Breds in the ninth to seal the win and increase his team-leading save total to six. Murray stranded four runners over the final two innings and 12 over the course of the game.

After watching junior Nick Barte lead EKU past Morehead in the first game of the day, Howard put together the finest outing of his young career to keep alive Eastern's hopes for an OVC Championship.

"I told our guys, 'it's gonna take somebody special to do special things' and that's a guy (Howard) who we turned to and asked for four or five innings," said Dominguez. "He pitched on pure guts, but that's what it's going to take for us to win and I'm just happy to be playing another day."