ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- After a rocky start, Eastern University baseball rode a solid bullpen performance to an 11-5 non-league win over visiting Centenary College (7-9). Barry Jost pitched four innings in relief without giving up a run to secure his first career victory.

The visiting Cyclones came out swinging and jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Chris Smith took the first pitch of the game into right-center for a triple, and the next three players each squared up the ball. The Eagles (10-4) did get one out on a line drive to center, but Centenary still had runners at the corners with only one out and two scored. The Eastern defense came through with a nice play to catch the Cyclones trying to execute a double steal, and though the guests scored another run on a well-hit double, Eastern starter Ernie Stiegler was able to get out of the inning with a fly ball out.

The Eagles left a pair on base in the first, and Jost came on in relief. Jost, who has overcome significant injuries early on in his college experience, calmly set down three straight batters on six pitches.

"Barry's performance was definitely the story today," Eastern skipper Matt Midkiff related, "Ernie's stuff wasn't moving like it can, and they had timed him up. Barry came in and stayed down in the zone and changed speeds. They are a good fastball hitting team, but Barry really did well getting them to pound some balls into the ground."

The Eagles then tied the game in the bottom of the second. André Butler drove in a pair with a single to right. He then scored on an RBI double from Scott Renauro. Renauro, Eastern's all-time leader in RBI's, now has 97 for his career. The senior second baseman has overcome a slow start to the year and has hit safely in seven straight games. 

The Cyclones looked to have a rally going in the third with first and third with one out after a lead-off single and an error, but Jost induced a ground ball and Renauro and shortstop Dillon Schwartzer turned a double play to end the rally.  The Eagles turned twin-killings in the third, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to help pitchers out of trouble.

The Eagles took the lead for good in the fourth after loading the bases with one out. Dave Prager delivered a hard-hit single to right, and Greg DeSarro hit a long sacrifice fly to drive in a second run. 

Jost meanwhile continued to work efficiently through the fifth, and the Eagles put the game away in the bottom of the frame when Butler ripped a two-run triple and scored on the throw to third. Butler, whose birthday is today, celebrated his 22nd birthday with a 2-for-4 performance and four RBIs. 

Lucas Bremmerman worked the sixth and seventh innings and Ben Melendez worked an efficient eighth before giving way to John Taylor for the ninth. Brendan Spall knocked in the final two runs of the game with a high-hopping two-out single up the middle in the eighth.

"It was a great performance from Barry," Midkiff summed up, "and our bullpen and defense made it work, but I wasn't really thrilled with what we did offensively. We scored eleven runs, so I am happy with that, but we did some sloppy things that we need to fix."

The Eagles will have opportunity to improve in those areas when they host Franklin and Marshall College for a 3:00 pm game tomorrow. That game will be shown on Eagle Vision.

Box Score