Morehead, Ky. -- The Morehead State baseball team built a lead in the middle innings, but a five-run bottom of the eighth inning for Little Rock proved to be too much as the Eagles fell to the Trojans 8-5 Saturday evening at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, Ark.
 
Little Rock (27-20, 13-7 OVC) plated five runs in the eighth inning to complete a late comeback. A one-out rally that featured back-to-back doubles and a home run pushed the Trojans ahead. A two out RBI triple pushed the Little Rock lead out to 8-5 for the final margin.
 
Morehead State (24-22, 9-11 OVC) opened the scoring in the fourth inning. Designated hitter Aubrey Kearns drew a one-out walk. Right fielder Ian McCubbin followed, hitting the first pitch he saw in the at-bat high and deep over the wall in left center. First baseman Brayton Coomer drilled a two-out double into the gap in left center and scored on second baseman Nick Griffith's single up the middle to push the Eagle lead to 3-0.
 
MSU's offense struck again in the fifth. Left fielder Kyle Krupp and center fielder Davis Germann led off the inning with back-to-back walks. Third baseman Griffin Olson drove a double down the right field line to plate Krupp. Kearns followed with a sacrifice fly to center to plate Germann and the Eagles led 5-0.
 
Little Rock broke its 22-inning scoreless streak in the bottom of the fifth, aided by two MSU errors. After the Trojans led off with two singles, Brayton Coomer fielder a bouncer to first and his throw was high resulting in bases loaded with no outs. Little Rock shortstop Jerdy Lopez plated a run with a sacrifice fly. 
 
With runners at first and second, Morehead State starter Landon Waugh's attempt at a pickoff was wild, ending up in center field allowing both runners to advance. Trojan center fielder Kade Smith plated the second run of the inning with a bouncer to Coomer at first, to trim the Eagle lead to 5-2.
 
Waugh gave the Eagles a solid start, throwing six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on hits and four walks. He struck out one Trojan batter.
 
Eagle reliever Alex Miller (1-3) took the loss, throwing the final two innings of the game.
 
The Trojans struck again in the seventh inning. Back-to-back singles to lead off the inning ended Waugh's outing; Alex Miller entered the game in relief and gave up a single through the right side to make the score 5-3. After a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third, Miller got two strikeouts to kill the rally.
 
Little Rock's Isaac Evaniew (3-0) picked up the win. He shut out the Eagles in the seventh and eight innings, allowing one hit and one walk and notched two strikeouts. Tag Andrews (4) picked up the save allowing one hit in the ninth inning.
 
Morehead State and Little Rock will play the rubber game of the series Sunday at Gary Hogan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET. The game is scheduled to be aired on ESPN+.
 
NOTABLE
 

• McCubbin's home run in the fourth inning was his 12^th of the season, tying him with Jaden Correa for team honors. He also extended his reached-base streak to 26 games. He has hit safely in the last seven games.
• McCubbin finished 1-3 with two runs batted in, his 14^th multiple-RBI game of the season, tying Aubrey Kearnes for team honors.
• Davis Germann went 2-4 at the plate and scored a run. It was his 20^th multi-hit game of the season, the second-most on the club.
• Kyle Krupp's walk in the fifth inning extended his reached-base streak to 14 games.
• The loss snapped a six-game winning streak, the longest of the season for Morehead State 
• Morehead State is now 19-1 when leading after seven innings this season.
• Both teams finished with eight hits in the game. MSU is now 3-1 when hits are tied in a game.