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

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team was swept in its midweek doubleheader at West Virginia on Wednesday afternoon at Hawley Field, losing game one, 8-5, before dropping game two, 11-2.

With the losses, EKU falls to 6-10 on the year while WVU improves to 10-7.

Senior left-hander Paul Duncan (0-2) got the loss for the Colonels in game one, going 1.1 innings and allowing six runs on seven hits. Lefty Marshall Thompson (2-0) earned the complete game win for the Mountaineers, surrendering five runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters.

Eleven of the 13 runs in game one were scored in the first two innings of the seven-inning affair. EKU got on the board first as junior Richie Rodriguez and sophomore Austin Grisham led off the game with consecutive singles and then advanced on a wild pitch before junior Jacob Daniel scored Rodriguez on a groundout to short. WVU, however, plated four runs on five hits in the home half of the inning to take a quick 4-1 lead.

The Colonels responded in the top of the second when sophomore Matt Phipps ripped a double down the left field line that scored sophomore Alex Hughes and freshman Sean Hagen. Phipps then came home when Rodriguez reached on an error to knot the score at 4-4. WVU took the lead for good, though, in the bottom of the second as the Mountaineers loaded the bases with no out and pushed across three runs before EKU was able to get out of the inning.

Trailing 7-4 at that point, EKU had chances to get back in the game but left runners stranded on second and third in both the third and sixth innings. A solo home run by Daniel in the top of the second – his fourth of the season – was the Colonels’ only run in the last five innings of the game.

In game two, sophomore right-hander Anthony Bazzani (0-4) was saddled with the loss, going just 3.1 innings and allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, while Corey Walter (2-0) earned the win, going eight innings and surrendering two runs on eight hits.

WVU took an early 4-0 lead in game two before freshman Bryan Soloman crushed a solo home run to left center in the top of the third to cut the Colonels’ deficit to three. The Mountaineers, however, added one run in their half of the third and then exploded for four more in the bottom of the fourth to blow the game open.

The Colonels tried to rally in the eighth as Grisham doubled to lead off the inning and then scored on a base hit by Phipps to make it 9-2; however, WVU added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of contention.

EKU returns to action this weekend when the Colonels travel to Terre Haute, Ind. to face Indiana State in a three game series. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.