MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.- Eastern University Baseball battled to a 10-6 win over Averett College (11-5). Andre Butler went 4-for-5 and was a double short of the cycle as the Eagles (5-2) jumped to an early lead and never trailed against the team from Danville, N.C.

Butler started the day for the Eagles when he yanked the second pitch of the game over the left field wall for his first career home run. Things looked even more promising for the Eagles when Scott Renauro flicked a single up the middle to bring Dave Prager to the plate with no one out. With Renauro stepping toward second, Prager pulled a shot to second and the Cougars turned their first of three two-out plays on the afternoon.

The Eagles picked up another two runs in the third as Dillon Schwartzer hit a single to the hole and Butler hit a smash underneath the shortstop's glove to put two on with one out. Renauro drew a free pass to load the bases. Prager popped up, but Greg DeSarro picked him up with a two run single to right-center. DeSarro finished the day with two more hits in five at bats but saw his average plunge ever closer to .500 on the year. The junior catcher is down to .522 with eight RBI's through seven games.

Averett scratched for single tallies in the third and fourth to pull within a run at 3-2. The Cougars scored the run in the third on a wild pitch. The damage could have been worse in the third, but Prager made a diving stop on the bag at first and fired to second for a tag play to complete the twin-killing. Averett's Cody Moore homered to lead off the fourth.

Butler sparked a two run fifth with a triple to center. His line drive bounced to the fence in the deepest part of the park, and it appeared as though Butler might have had a chance for a second four-base hit on the day, but with no one out, he was held at third."

"In my younger days," Butler joked after the game," when I had more wheels, I might have scored on it, but the run was the important thing."

Head Coach Matt Midkiff talked about Butler's day as well.

"Andre is one of the four year kids in the program," he said, " and it is great to see how far he has come. It was fun that his family could be down here to see him hit his first career home run, and hit the ball really well. It is good for our program to see guys like Andre develop over their careers."

Butler scored on a misplayed fly ball. After another error put runners on 1st and third, Tyler Orr singled up the middle to push the second run of the inning across.

Averett answered with two in the bottom of the fifth, but the Eagles answered with another run in the sixth. Scwartzer doubled down the right field line and advanced to third on a sharp single up the middle by Butler. He then scored on a Renauro fly ball. Schwartzer finished the day 3-for-4 with three runs scored out of the ninth spot in the line-up.

Eastern starter Jim Edleman's day was finished after he walked the first two men of the seventh. Both those runners scored, but Lucas Bremmerman was able to get the Eagles out of the inning without further damage.

"Jim [Edelman]did not have his best stuff today," Midkiff added, "but he got us to where we had a good bullpen situation with a lead. Lucas did a nice job and Ben [Melendez] about scared me to death, but he got us to John Taylor for the ninth. John just pounded the strike zone in the  ninth. If we can put him in the game with a lead, we feel really good about our chances."

Taylor struck out a pair of hitters before getting the final out of the game on a routine ground ball.

"This was a good win for us." Midkiff concluded, "they've already played a lot of games, and for us to come down and compete with a good team down here is a big step for us."

Scwartzer singled and scored on a Prager single, and the Eagles picked up another insurance run in the eighth for the final margin.

With warmer weather on the The Eagles (5-2) are back in action tomorrow evening against Penn-State Harrisburg.