ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– With an important MAC-Freedom series against FDU-Florham on the horizon, Eastern Baseball Head Coach Jed Morris knew that he would need to use several pitchers in today's home test against local rival Haverford College. Six Eastern pitchers combined hold the visiting Fords to a single run, and the Eastern offense finally came alive late in a 6-1 win.
Nick Centeno and Josh Freed each pitched a pair of scoreless innings to get the Eagles into the fifth. Haverford's Grant Finn matched the Eastern staff pitch-for-pitch through the first four innings. Finn, a senior right-hander, was the beneficiary of a pair sharply-turned double-plays.
Grant Fisher came into the game to pitch the fifth. The sophomore left-hander retired the first batter he faced before giving up a walk. He retired the next hitter, but the baserunner reached third on a pair of wild pitches. Fisher struck out the final batter of the inning after an eight-pitch battle. Joe DeLos Santos applied the tag after the swinging strike.
The Eastern offense then took advantage of a two-out error to plate Tommy Strazza who had walked to start the fifth. Strazza, in his first game back from injury, was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Angelo Kelly then sliced a double into the left field corner to drive in Shane Albertson and double the Eastern lead.
The Fords halved that lead with a solo home run in the top of the sixth off Joe Clancy. the junior right-hander then retired the next two hitters on fly ball outs. Craig Stanley made a nice play on the final out of the inning. Zachery Taylor hit a hard line-drive into left-center field. Andrew Check raced into the gap to cut off the liner, but the ball bounced off his glove. Stanley, in perfect back-up position, made the grab.
Joe Grato led off the bottom of the sixth with a hard single to left field. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk. After a well-execute sacrifice bunt from DeLos Santos, and a walk to Boykin, Check drove the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence for his second home run of the season.
Check came in from center to pitch the eighth inning. He allowed a pair of baserunners on an error and a walk, but escaped the jam on fall-ball pop-out to DeLos Santos.
Albertson scored on a Tim Gorton single in the ninth and came on to pitch the final inning. Albertson allowed a pair of baserunners to lead off the inning before retiring the final three batters without allowing a run.
Fisher picked up his first collegiate win as the Eagles (7-9-2) improve to 5-1 at The Yard this season. Eastern travels to Lancaster Bible for a single game tomorrow and will host FDU-Florham on Friday.