Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – With the game tied, one on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Nick Howie deposited the ball over the right field wall to send the baseball team to a 7-5 win over first place Jacksonville State in the series finale on Saturday at Earle Combs Stadium.
 
The Colonels (23-17, 10-8 OVC) went in front in the bottom of the first and led until the Gamecocks tied it in the top of the seventh.  Will Johnson led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, but he was put out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Ryland Kerr.  With a 3-1 count, Howie drove the ball over the wall in right to end the game.
 
Howie finished the day 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs and two RBIs.  Logan Thomason had a 2-for-4 day with a run and two driven in.
 
After falling behind 2-0, EKU scored four runs in the bottom of the first.  A.J. Lewis doubled down to right center to score Kerr and get Eastern on the board.  Thomason followed with a 2-run double down the left field line. Daniel Harris singled through the left side to plate Thomason and make it 4-2 in favor of the home team.
 
Johnson's RBI double to left in the bottom of the fourth kept the margin at two, 5-3.  Jacksonville State cut it to one on Cole Frederick's run scoring single in the top of the fifth.  The Gamecocks tied it, 5-5, on Carson Crowe's leadoff home run in the top of the seventh.
 
Crowe finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Jacksonville State (21-17, 12-6 OVC).
 
Aaron Ochsenbein (4-0) earned the win for Eastern Kentucky after pitching the final two innings.  He gave up two hits and struck out two.
 
The Colonels will play at Cincinnati on Wednesday at 6 p.m.