BOX SCORE I PLAY-BY-PLAY

RICHMOND, Ky. – Senior right-hander Stephen Hefler masterfully tossed 8.2 innings of shutout baseball and junior Michael Garcia smacked a pair of home runs as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team blanked Morehead State, 5-0, on Sunday afternoon at Turkey Hughes Field to earn the series sweep over the Eagles.

With the sweep, EKU improves to 14-22 (6-6 OVC) and has now won four straight and seven of its last nine games. The loss, meanwhile, drops MSU to 5-28 (1-6 OVC).

Hefler (4-4) recorded every out of the game for EKU save the last one, hurling 8.2 innings of dominant, scoreless baseball, surrendering just four hits, striking out eight batters and only allowing only two runners to reach third base. After loading the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth, he gave way to senior closer Ryne Purcell, who got the first batter he faced, Travis Redmon, to pop out down the first base line to end the game. Because Purcell inherited the tying run on deck, he earned the one-out save, his fourth of the year.

Garcia led the Colonels offensively, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs scored and a pair of long flies, his second and third of the season. Junior Jacob Daniel scored two runs and added a solo home run, his team-leading eighth of the year, in the bottom of the sixth.

EKU got on the board in the bottom of the third as freshman Sean Hagen and junior Dustin Dunlop opened the frame with consecutive singles. After junior Richie Rodriguez advanced Hagen to third on a fielder’s choice, junior #A.J. Jamison# scored Hagen with an RBI ground out to MSU shortstop Austin Haney.

The Colonels, however, did not score again until the bottom of the sixth when Daniel and Garcia both connected on solo shots to left center field to give Hefler some breathing room. Garcia gave him even more breathing room in the bottom of eighth when he smoked another ball over the wall in left center and off the scoreboard, this time scoring Daniel, who had reached on a throwing error by Redmon, and making the score 5-0.

It is the second straight day a Colonel has hit multiple home runs in a game as freshman Bryan Soloman crushed a pair of three-run shots in yesterday’s game two win over the Eagles.

EKU returns to action this week when the Colonels travel to play Marshall on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.