After falling behind visiting FDU-Florham 6-0, the Eastern University baseball team closed the gap on three separate occasions, but the Eagles were never able to grab the lead and ultimately fell 14-10. Jim Crowley led the Eastern attack with three hits on the afternoon.

The Devils picked up a pair of runs in the opening inning. FDU's Greg Geran picked up the big hit of the inning with a sharp ground ball over the third base bag for an RBI single. The junior third baseman fouled off nine pitches in the at bat before reaching on the 14th offering from Eastern starter Andrew Reynolds. It appeared that Reynolds had earned the strikeout early in the at bat, but the foul tip escaped the catcher's mitt as Eastern backstop Ramon Reyes rose to throw out a stealing runner.  The Devils would score three in the opening inning.

FDU eventually built their lead to 6-0 before the Eastern bats came to life. With one out in the fourth, Ryan Polk reached on an error and Bill Brim laced a double down the right field line. Phil Clark stayed alive in a good at bat and delivered a line drive single to center to score a pair. Clark stole second and Chris Dole coaxed a walk. Both runners advanced on a ground out to put runners at second and third for Crowley. The Eastern right fielder fell behind early, but battled back in the count and lifted a line drive into right center for a 2 RBI single.

Up 6-4, the Devils loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the fifth. Eastern reliever Paul Sinclair got the first two outs of the inning on a single pitch when Brim made a nice turn on a 6-4-3 double play. FDU picked up a run on the play, but it looked as though the Eagles might get out of the jam without further damage. The next batter, Chris Baldino, hit a slow roller down the third base line for an RBI single. Eastern skipper Matt Midkiff jumped to the defense of his players after the close call at first, but the call stood, and the Devils were able to extend the inning and build their lead back to 9-4.

After the game, Midkiff responded to the tough decisions by saying, "We had some tough breaks today, but at the end of the day, we needed to get one more big pitch or one more big hit in a couple key situations." 

After the Eagles went quietly in the fifth, Josh Alley replaced Sinclair on the mound and set down the Devils in the sixth and seventh innings. The Eastern hitters built another rally off the FDU bullpen in the seventh. Crowley, Reynolds, and Scott Renauro started the inning with singles. Renauro picked up an RBI on his single up the middle to cut the FDU lead to 9-5.

Ramon Reyes walked after a double steal to load the bases for Brim. The junior second baseman turned on an inside fastball and just missed a grand slam.  His shot of the right field fence ended up as a three run triple. The Eagles could not push Brim across and went to the the top of the eighth down 9-8.

FDU struck for two more on a pair of Eastern errors in the top of the inning, but the bottom of the Eastern line-up started another rally. Andre Butler walked to lead off the inning and Crowley singled him to third. Renauro ripped a hard ground ball through the middle of the infield for his second RBI single of the day to close the gap to 11-9. After Crowley got caught on the front end of the double steal, Reyes knocked a single to center to plate Renauro. 

The Eagles put the next two runners on to load the bases, but the Eagles could not plate the tying run. The Devils got to Alley and scored three more runs in the top of the ninth. The Eagles put a pair on in the bottom of the ninth, but they were unable to close the gap further in the 14-10 loss.

Midkiff said of the day, "We battled and had some very good at bats, but we needed just one more big play to get us over the top." The Eagles will take on FDU again on Friday afternoon in Madison, NJ.