Eastern University Baseball used a strong pitching performance and some timely hitting to earn a 2-1 home win over FDU-Florham (21-5, 10-3 Freedom). First year pitcher Kyle Kurdewan did not allow a run in seven innings of work. Dan Garcia drove in the game-winning run with a two-out double in the bottom of the eighth.

Kurdewan hit the first batter he faced before getting three fly-outs to get out of the inning. FDU starter Glenn Cox worked his way through the top of the Eastern order in the bottom of the first. Scott Renauro hit a ball hard to left-center, but the Eagles went through the first without a hit. 

The Devils looked dangerous again in the second with a lead-off double and a walk, but Kurdewan got the next two hitters to hit ground balls to Joel Rios at third. The first was hit too slowly to turn two, but Garcia was able to make the turn on the second one to end the inning without any damage. The Eastern infield turned three double plays on the afternoon.

Eastern scored the first run of the game on a lead-off homer from Mike McNulty. The Eastern clean-up hitter drove an outside fastball over the fence in right-center for his fourth home run of the year. Eastern assistant coach Mike Santello talked about the at bat after the game. He said, "I think that was my favorite at bat of the year. Mike really watched the way he pitched to the first three guys and he was ready on the first pitch." 

McNulty's blast was the only run either team would score until the eighth inning. The Devils put runners in every inning, but Kurdewan was able to pitch out of every jam. 

"Kyle pitched to contact and trusted his defense today," said Eastern Head Coach Matt Midkiff, "We got some good plays behind him, but Kyle made a lot of good pitches." The Eagles turned a double play to end the sixth. Kurdewan faced five batters through a challenging seventh before Midkiff made the decision to go with Joel Rios for the eighth. 

Cox held the Eastern hitters in check as well. Ramon Reyes hit a ball to the fence in center to end the seventh inning, but the Eastern hitters were unable to piece together a rally. 

Rios took the mound under a dark sky with a steady drizzle already falling. By the time the Devils had loaded the bases with none out, the rain had increased to a steady downpour. Rios got a strikeout on the next hitter, but Alex Sariyan lifted a fly ball to right to drive in the tying run. Rios escaped further damage with fielders choice.

Scott Renauro started the Eastern rally with a one out double to left center. With the hit, the Eastern shortstop extends his hitting streak to 21 games. Rios then tried to take advantage of the wet conditions with a bunt for a hit, but Cox made a nice play off the mound to get the out at first. Garcia then cracked a rope to right-center to drive in Renauro for the go-ahead run. The senior second baseman has ten doubles and leads the Eagles with 43 hits.

Even with the lead, the Eagles still had work to do. Rios started the inning, but returned to third base after walking the lead-off hitter. Midkiff turned to Nick Moeltner to close out the game. The rookie right-hander entered as a reliever for just the second time in his college career, but he looked perfectly at ease starting his outing from the stretch. The first batter he faced hit a looping liner to center that André Butler corralled. 

Moeltner then made the pitch he wanted to get the game-ending double play. Renauro fielded the one-hopper to his left, flipped to Garcia, who fired to McNulty to beat the batter by a step. The win lifts the Eagles into a tie for fourth with Manhattanville with eight games to play. The Valiants, by virtue of their series win earlier in the year hold the tie-breaker.

"It's still to early to do all that, "Midkiff said when confronted with playoff scenarios, "we need to just continue to pitch and compete. I was really pleased with the effort and execution today, but we have two more games against these guys."

The Eagles (16-10, 7-6 Freedom) are now 10-2 in home games this season and are on a five game winning streak. They will seek to keep that momentum going when they travel to Madison, N.J. tomorrow to complete the series with FDU.

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