ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Baseball accumulated at least 15 hits for the second day in a row en route to a 14-11 win over the Wilkes University Colonels on Tuesday afternoon in eight innings.

While every batter picked up a hit in the win, the middle of Eastern's lineup really proved to be the heart of the Eagles' lineup. Eastern's three through six batters in the lineup, Timmy Gorton, Joe Grato, Eric Rossi and Andrew Check, gave the Eagles life with two hits apiece. Gorton knocked in two runs and Grato, Rossi and Check each plated three runners.

Grato picked up two of his RBIs in the first inning with a double to left. The Eagles added another run on a double play.

Wilkes' Steve Ruch crushed a leadoff homer to start the second inning, his league-leading seventh of the season. Eastern's starting pitcher Mike McCormack settled in and got out of the inning without any further damage. McCormack only allowed two hits through the first three innings.

Eastern batted through the order in the third inning scoring four runs on six hits. The Eagles started the inning with a single by Gorton. Grato doubled, and then Rossi smacked a triple to score Gorton and Grato. A home run shy of hitting a natural cycle in the inning, the Eagles got the next best thing with Check's at-bat. Check, who is consistently working his way back higher in the batting order, pounded the rare back-to-back triple over the left fielder's head. Tommy Strazza then batted Check in with an RBI-single to make it a 7-1 Eastern lead.

Eastern's six-run lead evaporated in the top of the fourth after Wilkes took advantage of three Eastern errors and tied the game at 7-7.

Not to be out-done, Eastern turned around and scored six of its own in the bottom of the inning.

After Gorton and Grato led off with walks, Rossi hit an RBI-single, Check knocked a two-RBI double to left and Andrew Boykin hit an RBI single through the right side. Later, Gorton knocked in two runs on a double in his second at-bat of the inning.

Eastern relief pitcher Nick Centeno, who entered in the middle of the fourth, now had a lead to work with and pitched a few succinct innings against the Colonels. Centeno mowed down the Colonels in six pitches and then eight pitches in consecutive innings. Centeno picked up his second win of the year, throwing 3.2 innings. He began to flag in the eighth inning on his longest outing of the season and was tagged for four runs in the inning. However, reliever Korey McCormack took the ball and got the final two outs of the inning.

The game ended abruptly after McCormack retired the side with Eastern clinging to a 14-11 lead. With the game called because of darkness, McCormack tallied the save, and Eastern captured a crucial Freedom Conference win. Eastern split with Wilkes earlier this season on the road and 

With a 6-7 conference record, the Eagles are still in pursuit of the fourth and final playoff spot.

Eastern hosts Widener University on Wednesday in a non-conference game at 3:30 p.m.

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