BOX SCORE: (HTML) (PDF) | ARCHIVE AUDIO

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- The Morehead State baseball team fell victim to a late-inning scoring flurry by UMass Lowell as the Eagles opened 2018 by falling 12-6 to the Riverhawks at the Swig and Swine Classic at newly-christened Shipyard Park.

Despite taking a 4-0 lead in the third inning and a back-and-forth battle in the middle innings, MSU saw UML scored six times in the seventh and eighth frames to pull away. At the plate, Morehead State could not rally, striking out five times in its final three at bats.

"We are obviously disappointed. It's opening day, and our guys were excited to play someone else," said head coach Mike McGuire. "We did some nice things at the plate, but overall (after the third inning), we punched out too many times, and when we walk 11 guys, strike out 11 times and only draw one walk, it's not a recipe for success. It's only one game, so we will flush this one and work to get better. We have a lot of baseball to play this weekend."

Seven Eagle pitchers issued 12 free bases, including the 11 walks and a hit batter. UML broke a 6-6 stalemate in the seventh with three RBI singles and a bases-loaded free pass.

Morehead State surged ahead 4-0 in the third. Junior leftfielder Niko Hulsizer's potential sacrifice fly was muffed by the UML rightfielder, allowing junior centerfielder Connor Pauly to score. An ensuing throwing error on senior Eli Boggess' dribbler to third pushed Hulsizer and junior Reid Leonard across, and senior second baseman Braxton Morris plated Boggess on a single.

The Eagles scored their fifth and sixth runs in the in the fifth and sixth frames. Junior DH Adam Rapp crushed an RBI double in the fifth, and Boggess recorded an RBI single in the sixth.

Leonard, Morris and Pauly each tallied two hits, part of a nine-hit day for the batters. Pauly also scored twice. UML hammered two home runs, including a two-run and a three-run smash.

Senior right-hander JC Hatcher was pinned with the loss, surrendering four runs in his two frames of work.

The Eagles return to action on Saturday with games against Ball State (11 a.m. ET) and UML again (2 p.m.).