WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team used a five-run sixth inning to propel it to a 12-2 victory against Virginia Commonwealth University on Friday afternoon at Brooks Field.    
 
The Colonels (2-3) took the lead in the second on a Logan Starnes RBI single. In the third Mandy Alvarez lined up through the right side to bring both Doug Teegarden and Kyle Nowlin home, giving EKU a 3-0 lead. In the fifth Alvarez scored on a Luke Wurzelbacher sacrifice fly.
 
With two on in the sixth, Nowlin hit a grounder to score Starnes, making it 5-1. After an intentional walk for Alvarez, Ben Fisher came to the plate and hit the first triple of the season for the Colonels, scoring both Teegarden and Alvarez, making it 7-1 Eastern. Shea Sullivan followed Fisher to the plate, bringing him home with a single to right field, extending the lead to seven, 8-1. The last run came on an Alex Holderback single that scored Sullivan, giving the Colonels a 9-1 lead at the end of the sixth.
 
Eastern added a run in the seventh on another Alvarez single.
 
Alvarez was not finished though, as he hit a two-run homerun over the centerfield wall, bringing Teegarden home and making it 12-2 EKU.
 
The Rams (2-2) returned eight of their nine starters from the NCAA Super Regional team from 2015.
 
Alvarez finished the game with four hits, five RBIs and one homerun. Sullivan notched five hits and one RBI.
 
Eric Nerl went six innings for the Colonels, only giving up one unearned run.
 
EKU returns to action at 2:00 p.m. Saturday against the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks.