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OXFORD, Ala. – Eastern's baseball team scored early, and scored often, on its way to a 13-6 win over Murray State  in an elimination game at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Wednesday night at Choccolocco Park.

The Colonels (28-30) will continue play in the elimination bracket against Austin Peay at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.
 
Eastern trailed 1-0 before heating up in the bottom of the second inning.  With two on and one out, Daniel Harris IV tied the game with a double to left field.  Cornell Nixon gave the Colonels the lead for good when he laid down a bunt single to bring home Daniel McFarland.  A throwing error allowed Harris to score for a 3-1 lead.  The next batter, Will Johnson, capped the 5-run frame with a 2-run home run over the wall in left field.
 
EKU scored in each of the next three innings to pull in front 9-2. 
 
The Colonels added two more in the seventh when Alex Holderbach drove in one with a single to right center, and Romanik doubled down the right field line to score another.  With two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, Eastern Kentucky scored at least one run in six of the eight innings in which it batted.
 
The game began at 9:52 p.m. ET and ended at 1:49 a.m. Thursday morning.
 
Johnson finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs.  Romanik was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run and two driven in.  Harris had two hits in four at bats, scored twice and drove in a run.
 
Max Ford (2-2) earned the win after pitching one and one-third innings of scoreless relief.  He walked one and struck out one.

"It was a great job by our team, a real team effort," Eastern Kentucky Head Coach Edwin Thompson said.  "I'm unbelievably proud of our guys and how they came back after the first game.  I really liked how we battled.  We got down 1-0 early, Teague did a good job of getting us out of some early jams.  Our defense picked us up in the second game tonight.  Cornel Nixon had some really great plays.  For me he was the story, he had a couple of bunts there that really changed the dynamic of the game.  We put pressure on them, we were relentless offensively, throughout the game and we did not stop.  I thought Max Ford, Nick Laster, and Kaven Brown all did a great job out of the bullpen.  It was just a great team win.  We got some confidence with our first win down here, and hopefully we can continue that tomorrow night when we play Austin Peay."
 
Grant Wood was 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs and an RBI for Murray State (27-29).