RICHMOND, Ky. - Sophomore Dylan McMaine hit a go-ahead solo home run witth one out in the ninth inning to lead the Eastern Kentucky baseball team to a 5-4 victory over Austin Peay in game one of a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. With the victory the Colonels secured a spot in next week's 2007 O'Reilly OVC Tournament. Complete recap following game two.

The Colonels (22-25-1, 11-10) are currently in fourth place in the conference and need one victory this weekend to clinch a spot in the six-team tournament field. EKU can also clinch a spot in the tournament with a variety of losses by teams currently under them in the standings should they fail to win a game against Austin Peay.

Eastern took two of three from Eastern Illinois last weekend, and have not lost a conference series since dropping two of three to Jacksonville State on April 21-23.

Sophomore Christian Friedrich (4-3) tossed his second straight complete game last weekend against EIU in the Colonels 6-3 victory and has allowed just two earned two runs in those starts. He also struck out six to surpass 200 strike outs for his career.

Friedrich currently ranks 11th in the nation and first in the conference with 11.7 strike outs per nine innings. He also leads the league with .167 opponent batting average which is .54 points better than the next closest pitcher.

APSU (34-18, 17-7) has won eight of its last nine conference games including two of three from Murray State last weekend.

The Governors have been led by their pitching staff with all three weekend starters ranking in the top 10 in the league in the ERA. Shawn Kelley (10-2) has been the strongest of three, ranking third in ERA (2.44) and first in wins (10) and innings pitched (99.2).

The Colonels took two of three from Austin Peay on the final weekend of the 2006 regular season and then followed that by defeating the Governors 6-3 in the first game of the OVC Tournament behind Friedrich who allowed just two runs in 7.0 innings.