RICHMOND, Ky. – Coming off a 27-run outing last weekend, EKU (15-9) drops game one of its ASUN Conference opening series against Liberty (14-9) by a score of 7-3 on Wednesday night at Gertrude Hood Field.
EKU tallied three hits in Wednesday's contest from
Jasmine Miller,
Lou Bowers,
Maggie Pertee, and
Nikola Schwarzingerova.
Sophomore
Lauren Narvaez earned the loss, moving to 8-5 on the season throwing 5.1 innings, three strikeouts, and six earned runs.
Freshman
Brooke Davis entered in relief in the top of the fifth, tossing 1.2 innings with one earned run.
Narvaez earned the starting nod in game one of the series against the Flames to kickoff ASUN play, her 12th of the season. The Downey, Calif. native ended the first frame with one hit allowed and a strikeout, sitting down Liberty's Carolina Hudson, reigning ASUN Player of the Year.
The second and third innings were all Narvaez, who tossed two additional strikeouts, bringing her total to three, holding the Flames to no runs and leaving two on base.
EKU earned its first baserunner in the bottom of the third as junior
Madison Scott drew a walk.
Outfielder
Vianna Barron made a heads up play in right, catching a screaming line drive on the run which caught the runner on first trying to advance for the double play.
Liberty would end the top of the fourth with three runs off three hits, including a triple and 2-run homer for the first runs in Wednesday's game.
Miller scraped the first hit on the day for EKU with a single in the bottom of the fifth. She would advance to third two batters later, ending the inning left on base.
Liberty extended its lead to five with a 2-run homer in the top of the sixth with one out by Megan Fortner. EKU freshman Davis entered the game one batter later, her 11th appearance on the season, sixth in relief. The Flames sent another 2-run blast in Davis' first batter, their third homer of the game.
Barron kicked off the bottom of the sixth getting on base off an error by the Flames' shortstop, Bowers would single the next at bat off a fastball taken to the left center wall. Pertee singled through the left side to knock in EKU's first run of the game, Miller walked in the next at bat to load the bases.
EKU ended the frame with two runs off a fielder's choice from
Lilly Davis and a single by Schwarzingerova, her eighth RBI of the season.
Liberty would hold its lead to end the first game of the series, 7-3.
The Flames' hurler Karlie Keeney threw a complete game with eight strikeouts on 142 pitches, she improves to 9-5 on the season.
LU led EKU 10-4 in hits, 3-0 in home runs, and 2-0 in stolen bases. Liberty extends its winning streak to 13 games in a row with the win.
EKU returns to action tomorrow in a doubleheader against Liberty to wrap up the series at 3 and 5:30 p.m. ET.
