NASHVILLE – A run in the eighth and a go-ahead, pinch-hit three-run home run in the ninth by Eastern Kentucky University sinks the Lipscomb University baseball team, as the Colonels defeated the Bisons 7-4, in the second game of an Atlantic Sun Conference series, Saturday afternoon from Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium.
Final Score: Eastern Kentucky 7, Lipscomb 4
Location: Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium
Records: Lipscomb (19-22, 12-8), Eastern Kentucky (8-35, 5-15)
HOW IT HAPPENED
EKU used a Tait Nunnally single to start the game. Unfortunately, he was able to scamper to third base on two wild pitches while Greg Caban was at the plate. Caban eventually plated Nunnally in on a base knock.
The Colonels cashed in a lead-off walk in the top of the second with an RBI groundout to lead 2-0.
In the bottom of the second, after two straight hits by
Jake Berg and
Damion Kenealy Jr. and a
Jacob Tobias walk to load the bases,
Keaton Mahan went 418 feet over the wall for a grand slam to flip the lead to 4-2.
In the fourth, Eastern Kentucky trimmed the deficit to a skinny run with a 415-foot home run by Dylan Rogers.
After
Rigo Ramos got through four innings,
Joey Mitchell kept the lead with the Bisons out of the pen with three scoreless frames and facing the minimum. After 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth, he worked around a one-out walk with a double play from
Aaron Stelogeannis to Kenealy to get out of the frame.
On the offensive end, the Bisons were trying to add on insurance, but after leaving two in the fifth, they were able to load the bases in the sixth after a
Jacob Tobias double and back-to-back free passes for Mahan and
Collin Goda. However, after a pitching change by EKU, they were able to get a strikeout to keep the home squad off the board.
In the eighth, with two outs and a runner on second, Diego Alana was able to even the contest at four runs apiece after reaching on an error.
Lipscomb tried to score the go-ahead run in the bottom half thanks to two walks, but a flyout ended the threat.
EKU got to Lipscomb in the top of the ninth. Following a walk and a single, a pinch-hit home run off the first pitch by Ehinger Adrianza gave the Colonels the lead back for good, 7-4.
KEY STATISTICS
Jacob Tobias hit his second home run of the season in the second and the fourth grand slam of the season for Lipscomb.
Parks Bouck extended his on-base streak to 20 straight and his hitting streak to 15, both team highs, in the loss on Saturday.
Joey Mitchell was lights out for Lipscomb as its first arm out of the bullpen, tossing three shutout innings with three strikeouts.
UP NEXT
Sunday's rubber match will take place at 1 p.m.
