Box Score I Play-by-Play

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Jacob Daniel provided the game-winning RBI single with two outs in the top of the 10 inning as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team pulled out a much-needed win over host UNC Greensboro, 6-5, on Wednesday afternoon at UNCG Stadium.

With the score knotted at 5-5 heading into extra innings, senior #A.J. Jamison led off the top of the 10th with a double down the right field line. After junior Austin Grisham# flew out, Jamison advanced to third on a groundout by senior Richie Rodriguez and then scored when Daniel laced a base hit into center field.

Hard-throwing junior right-hander Anthony Bazzani sealed the victory in the bottom of the 10th as he retired the side in order, striking out two of the three batters he faced to earn his second save of the season.

The win improves EKU to 4-8, while the loss drops UNCG to 9-3. Three of EKU’s four wins this season have come in extra innings.

Senior right-hander Matt Fyffe (3-0) has been the winning pitcher in all three of those extra-inning games. Fyffe came on in the bottom of the seventh on Wednesday and dominated UNCG over the next 2.2 innings, holding the Spartans scoreless and limiting them to just one hit.

Freshman right-hander Cody Creamer made his first career start on Wednesday and was solid for the Colonels, working 3.1 innings and surrendering just two runs on six hits while striking out three batters.

Right-hander Dominique Vattuone (1-1) took the loss for UNCG as he surrendered Daniel’s game-winning hit in the top of the 10th.

EKU took an early lead in the top of the third when Jamison scored junior Justin Trent on a sacrifice fly to center field, but UNCG responded with a run of its own in the home half of that inning to tie the score, 1-1.

EKU, however, opened up its lead with four runs in the top of the fourth. Rodriguez led off the inning with his team-leading seventh home run of the season, and then, with two outs, the Colonels rallied for three more. Senior Dustin Dunlop and sophomore Bryan Soloman started the rally by drawing back-to-back walks. The next batter, Trent, scored Dunlop on a single to left, setting up sophomore Steve Ferraro’s two-run double to left that made it 5-1.

UNCG got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, two more in the bottom of the fifth and then tied it, 5-5, on an RBI single by Lloyd Eznor in the bottom of the seventh, setting the stage for Daniel’s 10th inning heroics.

EKU returns to action this weekend as the Colonels play a three-game set at Wofford. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.