RICHMOND, Ky. - The Golden Grizzlies fell in its series opener against the Colonels, 10-5, this afternoon at Earle Combs Stadium.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (1-3, 0-0 HL) were led by Reggie Bussey who laid down three hits on five at bats and four Golden Grizzlies drove in a run.
 
Seven of the nine Colonels (1-4, 0-0 ASUN) in the lineup recorded a hit as a pair of players batted in two each.
 
Just like in its series opener, Bussey opened the game up with a hit, as John Lauinger got an extra two bases from a Colonels fielding error. Bussey attempted to tag up on the following at-bat, but was thrown out at home to keep things knotted at zero. Brandon Nigh blasted a hard shot into center, past the center fielder's head, which took a hard bounce and went over the fence for the ground rule double, scoring Lauinger for the early lead.
 
The Colonels knotted things up in the bottom of the second after it homered and scored a pair on a two-run single to take the lead. Bussey led off with his second-straight hit and moved along to second after Lauinger got hit to take his base. Nigh was due up and smacked one towards second and hit into a fielder's choice to second, but the throw to turn two went over the first baseman's head as Bussey crossed the plate.
 
The Golden Grizzlies defense answered as it went three up, three down to bring up the bats in the fourth. The bats answered as Brandon Heidal came up to the dish and sent one deep out of the park to tie things up at three in the top of the fourth for the Golden Grizzlies sole hit of the fourth. Pidek struck out his second and third batter in his Friday afternoon outing as he got his team out of a jam with a runner in scoring position.
 
The Colonels, however, would retake the lead as it grabbed its second home run of the day in the fifth and opened up the game as it tallied five runs off two singles and a double to put the game at 8-3.
 
Eastern Kentucky kept it rolling as it added on another run in the sixth to put Oakland in a six-run hole with a trio of innings to go. Ian Cleary tried to start a rally after he laid down a single to put himself on base. Cleary made his way to second on a wild pitch, as Aidan Orr sent him home after he sent one towards center field for the teams sole run of the inning. The Colonels answered though and put its lead back to six with a run of its own in the inning.
 
With three final outs to start the comeback, John Lauinger sent Jack Lux across the plate to ease the teams deficit to five, but the comeback bid fell short as the Colonels wrapped things up to take the win, 10-5.
 
Eastern Kentucky grabbed 13 hits with six doubles and two home runs, while Oakland knocked down a pair of doubles and a home run on 11 hits. On the bump, the Golden Grizzlies struck out nine batters while the Colonels struck out 11.
 
The Golden Grizzlies return to the diamond for game number two against the Colonels tomorrow, with first pitch set for 4:00 p.m. ET.