Ben Fisher homered for the 25th time this season, and Alex Holderbach hit two home runs himself, but the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team took a 8-4 loss at the hands of the Southeast Missouri University Redhawks at Capaha Park on Friday night.
The Colonels (24-31, 10-19 OVC) once again opened the scoring in the top of the first thanks to Cornell Nixon leading the game off with a single and a stolen base, which allowed him to score on Ben Fisher’s RBI single to right field, giving EKU the 1-0 lead after the top frame of the inning.
SEMO (27-24, 15-14 OVC) tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a RBI double from Chris Caffrey that scored Tristen Gagan.
The Redhawks took the lead in the bottom of the second with a Chris Osborne double that scored Kyle Bottger and Dan Holst, putting EKU in a 3-1 hole after the second inning.
Southeast Missouri added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth with a Holst single that scored Connor Basler. Osborne followed Holst to the plate and singled through the right side to score Bottger. A sacrifice fly from Caffrey scored Holst and put the Redhawks in front 6-1 at the end of the fourth.
SEMO added two insurance runs in the fifth inning to extend its lead, 8-1.
Holderbach led off the sixth inning with a solo home run that bounced off the scoreboard in left field, but that’s all EKU could muster in the sixth and finished the top of the inning still down, 8-2.
The top of the eighth looked eerily similar to the top of the sixth with Holderbach blasting his second home run of the game to nearly the same spot in left field, making it 8-3.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Fisher stepped to the plate and launched his NCAA leading 25th home run of the year over the wall in left field. That was the last run the Colonels would score, losing to the Redhawks 8-4.
Holderbach led the way for EKU with two home runs, two RBIs and two runs. Fisher also had two RBIs along with his solo home run and run scored. Nixon, Daniel McFarland and Ryland Kerr each finished with two hits.
EKU finishes the regular season with the series finale tomorrow against the Redhawks. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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Don Hawkins
EKUSports Communications Intern