BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team won its weekend series over Penn State as the Colonels held on for an exciting 7-6 win against the Nittany Lions in the finale on Sunday at Turkey Hughes Field. Penn State plated three runs in the top of the ninth, but their bid to tie it was stymied by a diving stop by sophomore Matt Phipps that ended the game.

Trailing 7-3 heading into the ninth, Penn State (3-3) staged a two-out rally to pull within one. With two down and men on first and second, Elliot Searer launched a double into left center that scored both runners. After EKU (2-4) turned to senior closer Ryne Purcell to get the final out, Blake Lynd poked a double into center that scored Searer and made it 7-6. The next batter, Sean Deegan – who had terrorized the Colonel pitching staff all weekend – laced a ball that looked like it would get through the right side of the infield and score Lynd, but Phipps – who had come in as a defensive replacement at second base in the eighth inning - made a spectacular diving stop and was able to throw Deegan out at first to end the game.

Senior right-hander Stephen Hefler (1-0) started for the Colonels and got the win, going 5.1 innings and allowing just two runs on six hits. Purcell delivered the final out of the game to earn his second save of the weekend.

John Walter (0-2) worked four innings and allowed four runs on seven hits to pick up the loss for Penn State.

Junior Jacob Daniel went 3-for-5 with an RBI to lead EKU at the plate. Three Colonels – senior Ryan Faidley, sophomore Austin Grisham and freshman Sean Hagen – picked up two hits on the afternoon while junior Michael Garcia drove in a team-high two runs.

Mario Eramo and Luis Montesinos both collected three on hits on the afternoon to pace Penn State offensively.

After Penn State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, EKU rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a lead it would never relinquish. Junior Richie Rodriguez walked to lead off the inning and went to third on a well-executed hit-and-run single by Hagen. Faidley and Grisham then delivered back-to-back RBI singles that scored Rodriguez and Hagen and gave the Colonels the lead. After a sacrifice bunt by Garcia plated Faidley, Grisham scored the final run of the inning when freshman Alex Arovits reached on a throwing error by Walter.

The Nittany Lions scored a run in the top of the sixth; however, the Colonels matched that run with an RBI double by Daniel in the home half of that inning. After Penn State again scored in the seventh, EKU took its 7-3 lead in the bottom of that inning when Garcia blasted an RBI single up the middle that scored two runs when Lynd misplayed the ball in center field.

The Colonels continue their home stand this week when they host Western Carolina in a two-day series on Tuesday and Wednesday.