Box Score vs. UNCW  |  Box Score vs. S.D. State

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Thanks to two multi-home run performances, the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team improved to 2-1 during the Hughes Bros. Challenge at Brooks Field.
 
In the first game EKU faced off against the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks. The Colonels (2-4) drew first blood with a Ben Fisher home run in the second. In the third, Doug Teegarden added to the lead with a RBI single.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Seahawks (5-0) answered with three runs of their own to take the lead, 3-2.
 
Eastern tied it up, 3-3, with another Fisher home run. UNCW finished the third with another three-run inning, taking a 6-3 lead.
 
After two more runs in the fifth, EKU's bats came alive in the seventh. Kyle Nowlin started the scoring with an RBI single. Mandy Alvarez followed him to the plate and got a two RBI single to bring the Colonels within two, 8-6.
 
The Seahawks added runs in the seventh and eighth, giving them a 10-6 lead. Nowlin sent a ball over the center field wall in the ninth, but it was not enough as Eastern fell, 10-7.
 
Head coach Edwin Thompson was proud of the effort shown by his team. "Offensively we had a chance, we kept fighting. We were able to score four runs in the final three innings, unfortunately we came up a little bit short."
 
In the second game EKU (3-4) took on the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits. Eastern wasted no time getting on the board with a Shea Sullivan RBI double. SDSU (0-7) tied the game with a run of their own in the bottom of the second.
 
The Colonels finally broke the tie in the fifth inning with an Alvarez home run, making it 2-1 EKU. Eastern would not trail or be tied again.
 
Alvarez added his second home run of the game in the seventh inning, and a throwing error in the eighth allowed Matt Olive to score, giving the Colonels a 4-1 lead.
 
Eastern saved their most potent inning of the weekend thus far for the ninth. EKU scored six runs in the inning, sparked by an Olive three-run double. Cole Warrenfeltz brought Olive home with an RBI double. Teegarden added an RBI of his own on a double to right field, and finally, Alvarez brought Teegarden home with an RBI single, putting the Colonels ahead 10-1. That would be the final score.
 
Hunter Dunn picked up his first win of the season, going five innings and notching six strikeouts along the way. Coach Thompson said after the game on Dunn, "Hunter gave us a quality start and put us in a great position to win."
 
Eastern returns to action against SDSU at 10:00 a.m. Sunday.