Paducah, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky baseball team rallied from a 5-0 first-inning deficit to tie Saturday's game at 6-all, but could not pull out a victory as top-seeded Jacksonville State went on to take an 11-6 victory. The loss eliminates the Colonels (26-31) from the 2005 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament with a third-place finish.

"I couldn't be more proud of a group of young men than I am of these guys. They [Jacksonville State] jumped all over us at the start and Greg (Harper) came in and gave us an opportunity," said EKU head coach Elvis Dominguez. "We had our chances but we just didn't get it done, and that's baseball. You have to give them credit. We played the last three weeks of the season on guts and adrenaline. Today we came out and battled and we just ran out of gas."

The Gamecocks (34-24) got to senior starter Eric Anthrop early and often in the first inning, building a 5-0 lead at the onset of the game. EKU rallied behind a three-run double by senior Derrick Bussell to tie the game at 6-all, but JSU closed out the game with five unanswered runs to advance to the OVC title game. Junior Greg Harper (2-2) pitched a career-high 8.1 innings in relief of Anthrop, retiring 10 in-a-row at one point, but surrendered a pair of homers to Winston Pearson over the final innings to take the loss.

Bussell went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI in his final game as a Colonel, and hit an impressive .647 (11-of-17) with eight RBI and seven runs scored over the course of the OVC Tournament.

"I can go on record as saying he has been my favorite Colonel since I arrived here," said Dominguez. "The way he plays the game every single day is a lesson for all to see, because he leaves it all between the lines every time out. I hope some of our other guys can learn from him."

JSU jumped all over Anthrop in the top of the first, putting together five-consecutive hits to take an early 5-0 lead. Anthrop lasted just a third of an inning for the Colonels, allowing five runs (two of which were unearned) during his appearance. Jake Ball put the Gamecocks on the board with a RBI single, then came around to score with Austin Stein on a two-run double by Brian Haskins. Richard Turner followed with a run-scoring single of his own to chase Anthrop from the contest.

Harper took the mound for EKU and worked his way out of the first inning. The junior hurler went on to allow just one unearned run over the next five innings to help the Colonels fight their way back into the game.

Junior Chris O'Dell put the EKU in the scoring column in the bottom of the second when he connected for his seventh home run of the year (a solo shot to left). Eastern tried to tack on another run in the inning, but sophomore Tony Wells was nailed at the plate after trying to score on a groundout. He would mark the first of two Colonel base runners tagged out at home during the game.

Haskins scored on a passed ball in the third to push JSU's lead back to five, 6-1. After managing just one run off Jacksonville starter Matthew Darwin over the first three innings, the Colonels exploded for three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Darwin walked freshman Lucas Waters to load the bases, but it didn't stay that way for long, as Bussell delivered a bases-clearing double to make it a 6-4 contest.

Senior Adam Visnic, who went 3-for-5 in the loss, got Eastern going in the fifth by driving in O'Dell with his first triple of the season. Visnic came around to score the tying run off a wild pitch by reliever Tony Drinkard.

Tied at 6-all, Harper entered the seventh having retired 10-straight batters. Cory Tucker snapped that streak with a bunt single, then Pearson broke the tie with a two-run homer. Pearson struck again in the top of the ninth with his seventh homer of the year (a solo shot). Ball and Haskins added some insurance runs with a pair of RBI doubles to bring the game to its 11-6 final.

EKU, which stranded 12 base runners in the loss, couldn't get anything going over the final three innings off JSU reliever Lee Drinkard (7-2). The freshman hurler allowed just two hits over the final 3.2 frames to pick up his seventh victory of the year. Ball led the Gamecocks with three hits in the win, while Pearson and Haskins drove in three runs a piece.

Eastern's season comes to an end after a run which saw the Colonels earn a spot in the OVC Tournament on the final weekend of the regular season, then earn a third-place finish as the tournament's No. 6 seed.

"We've been in this situation before, having finished in the top three in each of the past three seasons. But, like I told the guys, close doesn't count," added Dominguez. "Hopefully the guys that are staying can learn from this and take it into next year."

2005 O'REILLY OVC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
INF - Jake Ball, Jacksonville State
INF - Tommy Smith, Austin Peay
INF - Clint Carroll, Jacksonville State
INF - Jared Walker, Austin Peay
INF - Richard Turner, Jacksonville State
OF - Derrick Bussell, Eastern Kentucky
OF - Brett Luther, Austin Peay
OF - Winston Pearson, Jacksonville State
OF - Bryan Stevenson, Eastern Kentucky
P - Brad Daniel, Austin Peay
P - Donovan Hand, Jacksonville State
P - Shawn Kelley, Austin Peay
P - Rowdy Hardy, Austin Peay

TOURNAMENT MVP:
Brad Daniel, Austin Peay