Eastern University Baseball picked up a thrilling 6-5 extra inning win in the first game of an evening doubleheader against PSU-Berks, but the Eagles were unable to hold a slim 2-1 edge in the nightcap and fell 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh.

In the opener, Eastern trailed 5-2 after five. Starting pitcher Kyle Kurdewan had settled into the game and worked a scoreless sixth. The freshman from Wall, N.J. allowed seven hits and only two runs in his 6 1/3 innings. The Eagles scratched together a single tally in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 5-3, but things looked bleak as the Lions loaded the bases with just one out against the Eastern starter.

The Eastern coaches called on Matt Martin to stop the rally and the sophomore right-hander again answered the bell as he induced a ground ball to second that the Eastern defense turned two to escape the jam. Head Coach Matt Midkiff said of Martin's effort, "Matt was great again tonight. We put him in hoping to limit them to a single run, and he was able to locate and let his defense work. He's had two good outings for us this Spring." 

Eastern carried that momentum up to the plate. After a ground out to start the inning, the next two Eagles walked. Pinch-hitter Matt Horican delivered a two-run triple to tie the game. The Eagles were unable to plate Horican, and so the game went to extra innings. With Martin out of the game, Joel Rios took the ball and pitched a perfect eighth. 

Rios started the bottom of the eighth with a base on balls and advanced to second on a Dan Garcia ground out. Rios scampered to third on a passed ball and scored the winning run on a Ramon Reyes base hit.

The Eagles got another strong pitching performance in the second game. Nick Moeltner gave up just a single run through the first six innings, and it looked as though Mike McNulty's two run double in the top of the third was going to be enough for the win.

The Lions, however, put the first two runners on in the bottom of the seventh. With two in scoring position, John Taylor came in to try to shut down the Lions. Taylor struck out the first batter he faced, but the second rapped a single up the middle to win the game.

Midkiff was pleased with his pitching and defense, but the Eastern skipper realizes that the bats are going to need to come alive in order to take advantage of the solid pitching. He said, "Our pitchers have done well, and we have been clean in the field behind them. Now our hitters need to be more aggressive when they get their counts. We are hoping that will come with more at bats.

The Eagles (2-3) will not have too long to think about this evening's two thrillers as they return to the diamond tomorrow morning at 9:00 am for a single game against Alma College.