<  Become A Fan Of Colonel Baseball On Facebook


Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – Senior Shaun Ball hit a 2-run home run with the score tied in the eighth inning and sophomore Ben Gullo struck out 13 as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team beat Tennessee-Martin 7-3 in game two of the Ohio Valley Conference series.

With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth, Bryan Soloman led off the bottom of the inning with a double to right center.  Ball stepped to the plate and sent a 3-0 pitch over the right field fence.  The Colonels (11-20, 7-7 OVC) added two more runs on an RBI single by Kenny Hostrander and a triple by Austin Grisham.

Gullo cruised through the first six innings, allowing just two hits and retiring nine straight from the fourth through the sixth.  He encountered a bit of trouble in the seventh.  After a single and a walk, Matt Young hit a one-out, 3-run home run to tie the game.  It was Young’s second homer of the season and just his eighth RBIs.

Gullo (2-2) allowed three runs on five hits over eight innings.  He walked only one batter and blasted his previous career-best of six strikeouts with 13 K’s.  The Lake Zurich, Ill., native struck out two batters each in the first four innings and struck out two in his final inning of work.

Grisham led off the EKU first inning with a single to center and Doug Teegarden reached on an error.  A double steal moved the runners to second and third.  Sean Hagen followed with a single up the middle to score both runners, giving the junior nine RBIs in the series.

Kyle Nowlin followed a two-out double by Ball with an RBI single through the left side to extend the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth.

Ball went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Grisham, Hagen, Nowlin and Hostrander all recorded two hits.  Young finished 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs for Tennessee-Martin (9-25, 2-15 OVC).

Taylor Cox started for UTM and allowed three runs, two of which were earned, over seven innings.  He gave up nine hits, walked one and struck out five.  Chris Ross (3-3) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on four hits in two-thirds innings.

Eastern has won five straight OVC games and six of its last seven overall.

The Colonels and Skyhawks will conclude their series on Sunday at 1 p.m.