COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Sophomore Chad Oberacker pitched six
innings, allowing just one earned run, and the Tech offense lit up
the scoreboard, topping Eastern Kentucky 10-4 in the first game of
a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.
Senior catcher Cory Wright helped the Tech cause, hitting a two-run
homer in the seventh inning, as the Golden Eagles took control of
the game with four-run fifth, three-run sixth and two-run seventh.
Casanova Donaldson extended his hit streak to five games, going
2-for-5 from the plate.
Oberacker struck out eight batters, allowing just five hits and
also helped his own cause, going 1-for-3 from the plate with an
RBI. Alex Henry, Ben Burgess and Trice Powers each also had
multi-hit games. Burgess finished with three RBIs, and A.J.
Kirby-Jones added two for the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles (14-12, 2-7) fell behind 1-0 in the second
inning, but tied it in the bottom of the third, before Tech’s
three big innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh. EKU managed one
run in that time, but fell behind 10-2. EKU added two runs on a
ninth inning homer from Dustin Dunlop.
The teams were originally scheduled for a double-header beginning
at 1 p.m., but severe weather pushed the start time back to 6:30
p.m., forcing two seven inning games beginning at noon on
Saturday.
Tech won the opening game of its conference series for the second
week in a row, and improve to 6-0 when scoring 10 runs or more.
After hosting EKU in a double-header Saturday, Tech will welcome
Covenant for a non-conference double-header on April 14, before
traveling to East Tennessee for a return game on April 15, and
heading to Austin Peay for a three-game conference series on April
18 and 19.