BOX SCORE | ARCHIVED AUDIO

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Senior righty David Calderon punched out a career-high 10 batters, but the Morehead State baseball team dropped a back-and-forth contest at Southeast Missouri on Friday. The Eagles (6-7, 0-1) fell to the Redhawks 5-4 in their Ohio Valley Conference opener.

Calderon tossed the first five innings for Morehead State, scattering six hits and two runs during his outing. For the day, he walked just two.

"I thought David gave us a great start," said head coach Mike McGuire. "The unfortunate thing was we didn't make a couple of plays behind him and it led to an unearned run, but more importantly the pitch count built and instead of getting seven out of David, we got five and it makes it harder to get to the finish line."

After falling behind 1-0, junior first baseman Trevor Snyder smoked a solo homer off the Capaha Field scoreboard to tie the game 1-1 in the fourth. The homer marks the second straight that Snyder has left the yard for Morehead State, totaling two on the season.

The Eagles added two more runs in the fifth to their lead. Senior second baseman Braxton Morris laced a double in the left center gap, just out of the reach of SEMO left-fielder Chase Urhahn, that plated junior right-fielder Jake Hammon, who led the inning off with a free pass. Senior utility man Eli Boggess added a sacrifice fly to plate Morris to push the lead 3-1.

Southeast Missouri answered with a run in the fifth to make things 3-2. A bases-loaded walk issued to freshman designated hitter Bryce Hensor ushered home senior left-felder Tyler Niemann to extend the Morehead State lead to 4-2.

Free bases plagued the Eagles the rest of the way, as Southeast Missouri drew five walks across the game's last two frames to jumpstart its offense. The Redhawks added two runs in the seventh to knot the contest at four. The winning tally touched the plate as a wild pitch bounded away from junior backstop Hunter Fain, allowing Redhawk shortstop Connor Basler to score.

"David walked two through five innings, and we walked five in the last two innings," added McGuire. "That's not a recipe for winning, and then I don't know how many guys we left on base today, but we had opportunities throughout the ballgame. We just did not a hit, and we need to cash in when we get an opportunity."

Morehead State returns to action tomorrow afternoon for doubleheader action from Cape Girardeau's Capaha Field. First pitch of the first game of the twin billing is set for 2 p.m. ET.