Brenden Overton hit his third home run of the season, but it was not enough as the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team dropped its mid-week game to the University of Missouri Tigers, 13-4, on Tuesday evening at Taylor Stadium.
The Colonels (24-28, 10-17 OVC) started the game with singles from Cornell Nixon and Shea Sullivan. Ben Fisher singled through the right side to bring Nixon home and give EKU a 1-0 lead.
Missouri (31-21, 11-16 SEC) responded with a six-run bottom frame to take a 6-1 lead into the second.
The Tigers tacked on four more runs in the second to take a 10-1 lead into third.
Eastern started the fifth in a 13-1 hole after Missouri scored a run in the bottom of the third and two runs in the fourth. Daniel McFarland started the fifth by drawing a walk, and Nixon reached on a fielder’s choice in the next at-bat when McFarland was forced out at second. Sullivan took a base on balls, and Fisher singled to right center to load the bases. Alex Holderbach was hit by a pitch, which plated Nixon. Now at third, Sullivan scored on a wild pitch, and EKU finished the fifth trailing the Tigers 13-3.
In the sixth inning Overton launched a ball over the wall in left field, cutting the Missouri lead down to single digits, 13-4. That, however, is as close as Eastern would get as the Colonels fell, 13-4.
Fisher and Howie finished with two hits each, while Fisher and Overton each had one RBI. Nixon scored two runs and stole a base.
The Colonels now make the 227 mile trek to the southeast for an OVC series at Southeast Missouri. The series opener is set for a 7 p.m. start on Thursday.
Don Hawkins
EKUSports Communications Intern