RICHMOND, Ky. – Junior Charlie Yarbrough hit three home runs and tallied seven RBI to lead the Eastern Kentucky baseball team to a 21-9 victory and a two-game sweep over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies today at Turkey Hughes Field.
Yarbrough hit a three-run shot to give Eastern (2-2) a 3-0 lead in the first. But Oakland (0-4) came right back in the second against EKU starter Dan Bachman, getting an RBI single from Tim Doig and another run on a Kirt Kleindienst error.
The Golden Grizzlies surged ahead in the third on a two-run single from Ryan Heath who then came around to score on a two-run double from Kevin Carkeek with none out. Sophomore Blake Anderson relieved Bachman and struck out the side to get out of the inning.
The Colonels rallied with four in the third to take a 7-6 lead on just one hit. Eastern loaded the bases with none out when Yarbrough drove a fly ball to deep center which was dropped, scoring the first run of the inning. Junior Chris O'Dell then walked to drive in another run. It looked as if the Golden Grizzlies would get out of the inning but sophomore Joe Oliver singled with two outs to drive in two and give the EKU the lead.
Oakland tied at 7 in the top half of the fourth, but Eastern took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom half. Waters walked to open the inning, stole second and third and then scored on a wild pitch. Junior Shawn Flora drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right, driving in junior Tyler Nix who had reached on a walk.
The Colonels put the game away in the sixth sending 11 men to plate and pushing eight runs across the plate. Yarbrough struck out to open the inning but junior Tony Wells then singled to right, coming around to score on a Flora single and the Colonels were off and running. Waters added to the lead later in the inning with a two-run single and Yarbrough closed it with his second homer of the game.
Anderson went four innings in relief of Bachman to pick up the victory. Carkeek led the Golden Grizzlies with three hits and two RBI.
The Colonels open a three-game series with Akron on Friday, March 3 at Turkey Hughes Field. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
