RICHMOND, Ky. - An early start, cold damp conditions and strong starting pitching led to nail-biter Saturday morning, as the University of Evansville baseball team fell to Eastern Kentucky 2-0, in the EKU Challenge in Richmond, Kentucky.

With 9 am central start time, both pitchers came out strong, as the Aces senior right-hander Justin Hayden and the Colonels Kaven Brown took turns keeping the opposing offenses off the scoreboard.

Eastern Kentucky would finally break the scoreless showdown in the fourth inning, the Colonels' Will Johnson led off the frame with a triple down the left field lane. The next batter, Brent Lovell would drive Johnson in with an RBI single to right-center, making it 1-0 EKU.

That would be the only blemish on Hayden's (1-1) day, as he went five innings, giving up one run on four hits, while striking out three in his second start of the season. Freshman reliever Shane Gray would come in in relief in the sixth, and dominate for much of the rest of the game, striking out seven.

However, in the eighth inning, the Colonels would tack on another, as EKU's A.J. Lewis would tag Gray for an RBI double to left.

As for the Aces offense, they were held to five hits by Brown, who went 8 1/3, striking out eight.

The loss drops Evansville's record to 4-5 on the season, while Eastern Kentucky improves to 7-4.   
 

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