RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team begins a five-game homestand with a 3:00 p.m. game Friday at Turkey Hughes Field against Wright State University.

Bowling Green follows Wright State into Richmond for single games Saturday (3:00 p.m.) and Sunday (noon). Eastern Michigan furnishes the opposition Tuesday and Wednesday for single games.

EKU, 4-2 overall, is coming off a win over Mercer University (9-7) and two losses to Georgia Southern (11-6, 11-0) last weekend.

"We're hoping to work on eliminating big innings by our opponents. We were hit with an eight-run and two five-run innings last weekend and that's hard to recover from mentally and on the scoreboard," said EKU head coach Jim Ward. "We're also hoping to develop more confidence in winning at home this year."

Eastern's offense has been clicking thus far, averaging more than seven runs per game, although Ward hopes to see more consistency throughout his starting nine.

"We can use more productivity out of our whole lineup. We have five guys that are pounding it, but we need the other four to contribute as well," Ward said.

Senior rightfielder Sean Murray leads the Colonels with his .440 batting average. Junior first baseman Lee Chapman is hitting .381 with a team-leading three home runs and 10 runs batted in. Junior third baseman Jason Sharp, who will miss this weekend's games with a sore left wrist, is next at .364.

Junior second baseman Adam Basil is hitting .333, while junior Brad Sizemore has a .304 batting average. Other Colonel regulars and their averages are: freshman shortstop Kiley Vaughn (.261), junior leftfielder Tom White (.208), senior third baseman J.D. Bussell (.182) and senior catcher Joe Smith (.130).

Defense has been a team strength as remarkably Eastern has begun the 1999 season without committing an error in 218 chances. Bussell leads the way with 19 assists and seven putouts, while Vaughn has 17 assists and eight putouts.

"Kiley's performance at short has built a confidence in our other players and pitchers that can not be measured," Ward said.

Ward indicated that the rotation this weekend would have senior righthander Eric Bess throwing on Friday, junior lefthander Corey Eagle going Saturday and freshman righthander Chip Albright on the mound Sunday. Redshirt freshman righthander Spencer Boley will pitch Tuesday, and Bess will close the homestand against Eastern Michigan Wednesday.

"We need our pitchers to start going 6-7 strong innings. We've been really pleased with (Mike, junior lefthander) Martini in his relief roles. We will continue to evaluate our people in these next few games. Overall, we believe we have some depth in our pitching this year," Ward said.

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