Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Kentucky's baseball team split an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Eastern Illinois on Sunday, winning the first game 12-4 before falling 13-5 in game two.
The Colonels used a 7-run sixth inning to propel themselves to a win in game one. A pair of solo home runs by
Kyle Nowlin was all EKU had to show offensively through the first five innings and trailed 4-2.
Cole Warrenfeltz gave Eastern Kentucky the lead, 5-4, with a 2-run double down the left field line.
Ben Fisher and
Luke Wurzelbacher each drove in a pair of runs with back-to-back doubles to cap the inning and make it a 9-4 game.
Junior
Mandy Alvarez put the game away with a three-run home run over the wall in center field in the seventh inning. Nowlin finished 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs and two RBIs. Fisher was 2-for-5 with a run and two driven in. Five Colonels had at least two RBIs.
Despite allowing 15 hits in eight and one-third innings,
Logan Hershenow (3-6) picked up the win. The senior gave up just three earned runs and faced two more batters than the minimum over his final three and one-third innings of work. He walked two and struck out four in his longest outing of the season.
Alvarez got the Colonels on the board early in the second game with a 2-run home run in the first inning and EKU led 3-2 going into the bottom of the second inning. The Panthers scored four times in that frame and never trailed again. Caleb Howell's RBI single to left put the home team on top for good.
EKU (15-24, 8-12 OVC) got within one, 6-5, on an RBI single by Warrenfeltz and a sacrifice fly by Nowlin in the fourth, but EIU (9-29, 6-15 OVC) pulled away with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The Colonels will play a home-and-home midweek series with Miami (Ohio) this week. The Redhawks visit Turkey Hughes field on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game.
