GAME ONE: BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY
GAME TWO: BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team emphatically ended a four-game hitting slump on Saturday as the Colonels scored 20 runs and pounded out 23 hits in a doubleheader sweep of UNC Asheville at Turkey Hughes Field. EKU won game one, 10-3, before taking game two, 10-6.

After scoring just four runs and hitting .142 as a team over their last four games, the Colonels (5-8) eagerly returned home to the Turk this weekend – where they have hit close to .300 as a team this season - and were welcomed by a stiff wind blowing out. The result was a day in which EKU’s team batting average increased by 15 points.

EKU’s pitching was also commendable on Saturday. Junior right-hander Matt Fyffe got the start in game one and went 4.1 innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits. Senior right-hander Chris Hord (1-0) pitched the final 4.2 innings to earn the win, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out nine batters.

Right-hander Ryan Dull (0-2) picked up the loss for UNCA (4-9) as he worked four innings and surrendered five earned runs on eight hits.

Junior Jacob Daniel led the Colonels offensively in game one as he picked up his first career four-hit game, batting 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Junior Richie Rodriguez, meanwhile, drove in a team-best four runs.

Robert McIntosh and Cody Buch both collected two hits in game one for the Bulldogs.

UNCA took its only lead of the day in the top of the fourth of game one. With two down and the bases loaded, Buch laced a grounder to Rodriguez at short, but Rodriguez’s throw to first was high and Paul Koontz and Ian Graham scored to make it 2-1 in favor of the Bulldogs.

EKU exploded for five runs in the home half of the fourth, though, to take a lead it would not surrender. Senior Ryan Faidley started the rally with a base hit to lead off the inning. After freshman Bryan Soloman walked, Daniel blasted a double into right center that plated Faidley and left Soloman at third. Following a groundout, sophomore Alex Hughes laced a two-strike single into left that scored Soloman and Daniel and gave the Colonels a 4-2 lead. The next batter, sophomore Matt Phipps, reached on an infield hit that advanced to Hughes to third, and then Rodriguez brought them both home with a base hit into center that made it 6-2.

UNCA got one run back in the top of the fifth, but EKU matched that run in the bottom of the sixth and then added three more in the bottom of the seventh to effectively put the game out of contention.

Freshman lefty Kyle McGrath (2-0) got the start in game two for the Colonels and earned his second win of the year, going five innings and allowing four runs on eight hits while fanning a career-high eight batters.

Right-hander Grier Harrington (1-2) picked up the loss as he threw just one inning and allowed eight runs on six hits.

Daniel, senior Bryce Labhart and sophomore Austin Grisham all had two hits for the Colonels in game two, while Daniel led EKU with three RBI.

Eli Miller, meanwhile, batted 2-for-3 with a run scored to pace the Bulldogs’ offense.

EKU took a commanding lead in game two early. The Colonels scored four runs in the bottom of the first and five more in the bottom of the second to lead 9-2 after just two innings of the seven-inning game.

Rodriguez got EKU going in the first inning as he reached on an infield single, went to third on a base hit by Grisham and scored on an infield hit by Daniel. After two runs came home on a throwing error by Buch, Phipps walked with the bases loaded to drive home the Colonels’ fourth run of the inning.

EKU added to that lead in the bottom of the second as Grisham led off the inning with his first career home run, a solo shot to right center that made it 5-2. After Faidley walked and went to second on a balk, he scored on a double to right center by Labhart. Daniel then crushed his third home run of the season to left, scoring Labhart and pushing the Colonels’ lead to six. Freshman Sean Hagen scored the final run of the inning when he stole third and scampered home following a throwing error by UNCA catcher Sam Turner.

UNCA added two in the top of the fifth and another pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but EKU was able to hold on for the game two win and the Saturday sweep of the Bulldogs.

EKU returns to action tomorrow in the finale of this weekend’s series against UNCA. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.