Box Score I Play-by-Play

RICHMOND, Ky. – Senior Jacob Daniel batted 4-for-4 with five RBI to lead the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team past Bowling Green State, 10-8, on Friday afternoon in game one of this weekend’s series at Turkey Hughes Field. The Colonels have now won four of their last five games.

EKU (7-9) got another solid start out of senior right-hander Matt Harris (2-2), who earned his second consecutive win by going 7.1 innings and allowed eight runs while striking out three batters. Junior right-hander Anthony Bazzani tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up his third save of the season.

Right-hander Cody Apthorpe (0-3) received the loss for BGSU (5-12), working just 2.1 innings and surrendering seven runs on seven hits.

Daniel turned in his best day of the season at the plate, as his bases-clearing double in the bottom of the third kick-started the EKU offense. Sophomore Bryan Soloman also broke out of a slump, batting 2-for-4 with a two-run bomb to dead center field in a big bottom of the third for the Colonels. Junior Austin Grisham finished the day 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two stolen bases. The Colonels, who lead the Ohio Valley Conference in stolen bases, swiped five bags on the afternoon.

Jeremy Shay paced the BGSU offense, batting 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI.

With BGSU leading 3-1, EKU plated seven runs in the bottom of the third to take a commanding lead that it would not relinquish. With one out in that inning, senior #A.J. Jamison# sparked the rally by singling to right field, and then he advanced to third on a base hit by Grisham. After senior Richie Rodriguez walked to load the bases, Daniel just missed on a grand slam, but still cleared the bases with a double to deep left center field. The next batter, senior Dustin Dunlop, doubled home Daniel, before Soloman emphatically broke out of a 2-for-15 slump by crushing a two-run home run over the wall in center field to make the score 7-3.

The rally, however, was not over as sophomore Sean Hagen then singled, advanced to second on a passed ball, went to third on a balk and finally scored on an RBI groundout by senior Michael Garcia to give the Colonels a five-run cushion.

EKU added to that cushion with a pair of RBI singles by Daniel in the bottoms of the fourth and sixth, before BGSU slowly began to chip away at it by scoring five runs over the final four innings. The Falcons plated three in the top of the eighth to pull to within two, 10-8; however, Bazzani, senior right-hander Matt Fyffe and sophomore right-hander Brent Cobb combined to shut them down over the final 1.2 innings of the game to seal the victory.

EKU and BGSU will square off in game two tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Turkey Hughes Field.