Game two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, weather permitting.
Box Score | Live Stats for Game 2
RICHMOND, Ky. – With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth,
Tyler Romanik hit a two-run home run to propel Eastern to a 7-5 win over the Racers in the opener of a three-game OVC series at Earle Combs Stadium on Friday. It is the Colonels' 10th win in their last 11 games.
With the game tied 5-5, one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, and facing a 3-2 count,
Alex Holderbach drew a walk. Romanik then stepped to the plate. He fouled off the first pitched, watched the second for a strike and fouled off the third pitch before taking two balls to even the count. He sent the pitch over the wall in right field for his fifth home run of the season and gave EKU a two-run lead.
Aaron Ochsenbein allowed a lead-off single in the top of the ninth before retiring the next three batters, two of them on strike outs, to save his ninth game of the season.
Romanik finished 2-for-4 with a walk, a run and two RBIs.
Will Johnson had a 3-for-5 day with an RBI. Seven different Colonels scored one run each. Holderbach was 1-for-2 with a run, an RBI and two walks.
The Colonels (26-21, 15-7 OVC) entered the bottom of the seventh inning down 5-3. The first four batters reached base to fuel the Eastern Kentucky rally.
Nick Howie led off the inning with a single to left.
Chris Botsoe reached on an error.
Daniel McFarland platted Howie with a single to right.
Daniel Harris IV tied the game with an RBI double to right center.
Back-to-back, two-out, two-run hits in the third gave Murray State the lead. Caleb Hicks drove in two with a single up the middle. Ryan Perkins followed with a double down the right field line to bring home two more and put the visitors on top 4-0.
"We didn't come out like I thought we would, unfortunately, for the first four innings," EKU Head Coach
Edwin Thompson said. "Credit to their starter for keeping us off balance offensively.
Logan Teague didn't have his best time, but he found a way to give his four and two-thirds innings when he didn't have his best. We pitched really well.
Jaxson Blair,
Casey Collins and
Aaron Ochsenbein at the back end of the game threw up zeros. It was great to see and it was great to win on a Friday night."
Eastern scored three times in the fifth and sixth innings to get back in the game. Harris started the fifth with his fourth home run of the season. The solo shot cleared the wall in left field. Holderbach drove in his 66th RBI of the season later in the inning with a single to center field. Johnson's RBI single through the left side in the sixth made it a 4-3 game in favor of the Racers.
Brandon Gutzler was 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and an RBI for the Racers (20-25, 7-15 OVC). Hicks finished 2-for-5 with a run.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, weather permitting.
