Louisville, Ky. – The Transylvania baseball team was upended by the Spalding University Eagles 8-3 in an interstate nonconference matchup on Wednesday evening at Derby City Field.

An early 3-0 lead for the Pioneers was erased by the Eagles in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings with a four-run response as the home team took momentum over the latter half of the contest.

Spalding improved to 19-7 overall while the Pioneers dropped to 12-16.

In the early going, the teams showed off the best of their pitching as Transy starter Luke Wilson went four strong innings in the Wednesday evening start, allowing three hits while striking out four. Wilson did not allow a walk as Spalding struggled for answers early.

The Pioneers, meanwhile, surged ahead 1-0 in the fourth inning on a well-hit double to left by Isaac Taylor that brought home T.J. Keck. Transylvania continued to build their lead in the following inning as Hudson Chastain began a two-out rally with a walk. The sophomore stole second and Riley Willbur drove him in with a single to the right side.

Willbur followed suit by stealing second base and Wade Lopiccolo obliged, scoring Willbur on a double to left field for a 3-0 lead.

Spalding started its extended comeback in the bottom half of the frame as the Eagles scored on a two-out RBI single against reliever Robert Young into right field to slice Transy's lead to 3-1.

The Eagles found a three-run inning in the bottom of the sixth against Pioneer relievers Joey Yancey and Jared Leuthart to take a 4-3 lead. The Eagles fully turned the game in their favor in the bottom of the seventh inning on a three-run homer to up their lead to 7-3. The Eagles tacked on one more run in the eighth as they looked back at a 12-hit day to seven for the Pioneers.

Lopiccolo led the way with a 2-for-4 showing at the plate with an RBI. Chastain went 1-for-2 with two walks.

Yancey took the loss to move to 0-2. Six different pitchers toed the rubber on Wednesday for Transy as Evan Burnett worked the seventh and Max Medley appeared in the eighth.

Transylvania returns to play on Saturday, April 13 when it reprises its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule with a doubleheader against the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers. The first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 noon at Marquard Field.

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