BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY

JACKSON, Tenn. – The No. 6 seed Eastern Kentucky University baseball team fell to the No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech, 7-4, in the nightcap of the OVC Tournament on Thursday at Pringles Park. Trailing 4-0 heading into the top of the fifth, the Colonels scored four runs over the next three innings to tie the game, but watched as the Golden Eagles plated three in the seventh to take a lead they would not relinquish.

EKU (28-26) will now face Murray State on Friday at 12:00 p.m. EST in an elimination game. The Colonels defeated the Thoroughbreds, 4-3, earlier in the day on Thursday.

TTU (30-23) will advance to play Jacksonville State on Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Junior left-hander Paul Duncan (5-5) got the loss for EKU, going 6.1 innings and surrendering seven runs on 11 hits while striking out six batters.

Lee Henry (7-3) – the 2010 OVC Pitcher of the Year - went the distance for the Golden Eagles, pitching all nine innings while allowing two earned runs on five hits and striking out eight batters.

Sophomore Dustin Dunlop led the Colonels at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Junior Ryan Faidley, meanwhile, hit his 12th home run of the season in the top of the sixth, a solo shot to left that made it 4-2.

A.J. Kirby-Jones, Chad Oberacker and Ben Burgess all recorded three hits on the night for the Golden Eagles. Burgess and Devin Rivers led TTU with two RBI apiece.

TTU scored two runs in the first inning and a run in both the third and fourth innings to jump out to an early 4-0 lead.

EKU began to chip away at that lead in the top of the fifth as Dunlop laced a single with one out in that inning, went to third on a base hit by junior Bryce Labhart and then scored on a throwing error by TTU catcher Ben Burgess as Labhart stole second.

In the top of the sixth, Faidley made it 4-2 with one swing as he turned on a pitch from Henry and drove it over the fence in left field for the Colonels’ first home run of the postseason.

The Colonels’ rally culminated in the seventh as EKU pushed two runs across to tie it, 4-4. Senior Joey Stevens got things started by getting hit by a pitch. He went to second on a base hit by Dunlop and both runners advanced on a perfectly-placed sacrifice bunt by Labhart. Sophomore Richie Rodriguez then scored Stevens with a sacrifice fly to center and Dunlop scored the tying run when TTU first baseman Tate McMillan made an error at first base on a groundball off the bat of freshman Austin Grisham.

EKU did not hold the lead for long, though, as a two-run double by Devin Rivers highlighted a three-run bottom of the seventh for the Golden Eagles that handed them the lead for good.