Box Score I Play-by-Play

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team dropped the first half of a midweek home-and-home series with Indiana, 6-4, on Tuesday afternoon at Turkey Hughes Field. The second half of the series will be played on Wednesday afternoon at Sembower Field in Bloomington, Ind.

With the loss, EKU drops to 7-12 on the season. The win improves IU to 7-13.

Senior right-hander Blake Bottoms (0-2) started on the hill for EKU and received the loss despite pitching effectively over 4.1 innings, allowing just three earned runs on five hits while striking out a pair of batters.

Left-hander Jonny Hoffman (1-1) earned the win for IU, working 2.1 innings of relief while surrendering one run on two hits.

EKU grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the first inning as freshman John Wilson reached on error and then scored on a triple to left center by senior Jacob Daniel. The next batter, sophomore Bryan Soloman, reached on another error, which allowed Daniel to score and give the Colonels a quick 2-0 advantage.

IU got a run back in the top of the second, another back in the top of the fourth and then took the lead in the top of the fifth when a throwing error allowed Michael Basil to score from first. The Hoosiers got one more run in that inning off an RBI base hit by Kyle Schwarber that made it 4-2.

EKU threatened to retake the lead in the home half of the fifth as senior Richie Rodriguez, the Colonels’ leading hitter, came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs; however, Rodriguez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, scoring only freshman Demetrius Moorer, who had led off the inning with his first career hit, to make it 4-3. The next batter, Daniel, grounded out to end the threat and the inning.

IU padded its lead with another run in the top of the seventh, as Sam Travis singled home Schwarber to push the lead to 5-3. The Hoosiers threatened to score more in that inning, but freshman left-hander Nick Bozman, making his first career appearance, got Justin Cureton to fly out to center with two outs, leaving a man stranded in scoring position.

In the bottom of the seventh, sophomore Sean Hagen pulled EKU to within one run when he blasted his first career home run, an opposite field job that just cleared the wall in right field to make it 5-4; however, IU added a final insurance run in the top of the eighth and then right-handers Ryan Halstead and Matt Dearden combined to shut down the Colonels over the final two innings to seal the win.

EKU and IU will face off tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at Sembower Field in Bloomington, Ind. in the second half of this week’s series.

Following this week’s home-and-home, EKU opens the Ohio Valley Conference schedule this weekend when the Colonels host Jacksonville State in a three-game series at Turkey Hughes Field.