Box Score I Play-by-Play

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Host Western Kentucky exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second inning and then held on to beat the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team, 11-7, on Tuesday night at Nick Denes Field.

The loss snaps the Colonels’ six-game winning streak. EKU (28-21) had won 11 of their last 12 games before Tuesday. With the win, WKU improves to 22-30 on the season.

EKU took an early lead with two runs in the top of the second, both coming off the bat of senior Richie Rodriguez. Senior Michael Garcia was hit by a pitch to lead off that inning, and senior Dustin Dunlop advanced him to third on a single to center field. After junior Shaun Ball grounded out and sophomore Sean Hagen struck out, Rodriguez ripped a two-out, two-run triple into left center field that plated both Garcia and Dunlop and gave the Colonels a 2-0 advantage.

WKU, however, plated eight runs in the home half of the frame to take a lead it would never relinquish. Freshman left-hander Nick Bozman and freshman right-hander Cody Creamer combined to allow three walks, two wild pitches and a hit batsman in the Hilltoppers’ decisive inning.

EKU responded with three runs in the top of the third, as Ball delivered a two-run single into right field that scored senior #A.J. Jamison and sophomore Bryan Soloman#, and Dunlop later scored when Rodriguez reached on an error by WKU third baseman Casey Dykes; however, the Hilltoppers responded with three of their own in the bottom of the seventh to stretch their lead back to 11-5.

The Colonels pushed across a run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez and another in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by junior Alex Hughes, but it was not enough as WKU held on for the win baseball’s version of the Battle of the Bluegrass.

EKU had won four of its last five over its non-conference, in-state rival before Tuesday’s game.

Bozman (2-1) picked up the loss for EKU, working 1.1 innings and allowing four runs on four hits. Sophomore right-hander Blake Bottoms tossed three scoreless innings of relief, while senior left-hander Greg Terry and junior right-hander Anthony Bazzani also threw scoreless innings of relief. The EKU pitching staff surrendered seven walks and a season-high four wild pitches in the defeat.

Right-hander Brennan Pearson (2-2) earned the win for WKU, coming on in relief of starter Colton Satterlee and holding the Colonels scoreless between the fourth and seventh innings.

Rodriguez led the way offensively for EKU, finishing the night with three RBI. Dunlop and Jamison both recorded a pair of hits in the loss.

EKU returns to action this weekend, as the Colonels travel to Murray State to play the Thoroughbreds in the final Ohio Valley Conference series of the regular season. EKU is one game out first place and seeking its first regular season league title since 2000.