CHESTERTOWN, Md. – Eastern Baseball settled for an 8-8 tie on Wednesday afternoon against Washington College. The Eagles held an 8-5 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth before a 3-run homer by the Shoremen tied the game at 8-8 before the umpires called the game on account of darkness. 

"It was definitely a strange ending to the game," said Head Coach Jed Morris. "This was a new experience for me, but I would have liked to have seen what would happen if the game went to extra innings."  

Washington College (2-1-1) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead scoring once in the second inning and three times in the fourth inning. The Shoremen got their first two runners on base in the bottom of the second giving them runners on first and second. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runners one base each before a double to left by Ryan Donnelly scored both Matt Tancredi and Charlie Meder to make it 2-0. 

After giving up three more runs in the bottom of the fourth Eastern (1-6-1) came into the top of the fifth trailing 5-0. A leadoff single by Jake Bunjo followed by an Angelo Kelly walk gave the Eagles runners on both first and second. Andrew Check then advanced the runners a base when he executed a sacrifice bunt. Timmy Gorton singled the very next at-bat to plate both runners tying the game at 2-2. Joseph De Los Santos then walked followed by an Andrew Boykin single to load the bases for Joe Grato. Grato launched a grand slam scoring all four runs to give Eastern the lead at 6-5.

"That was a really exciting inning to watch," continued Morris. "We executed very well in that inning, and I was proud of our players."  

The Eagles tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning to make the score 8-5. Jake Bunjo led off the inning with a single and scored on a wild pitch making it 7-5. A De Los Santos single scored Kelly stretching the lead to 8-5. 

After going down in order in the top of the ninth Eastern was only three outs away from claiming the win. However, the Shoremen came all the way back to tie the game. After a strikeout on the first at-bat, a single gave Washington College a base runner. Another single later in the inning tied gave the Shoremen two runners and the tying run at the plate. Aaron Barclay homered the very next at-bat and tied the game at 8-8 with two outs to go in the ninth. After the first pitch of the next at-bat, the game was called because of darkness.

Gorton finished the game going 2-4 with two RBI's and scoring one run. Grato finished the game 2-4 as well with four RBI's and scoring one run. 

"We simply have to finish games off," concluded Morris. "We let teams come back last week, and it cost us wins, and we let it happen again today. We just have to do a better job of closing the game out when we have the lead." 

Eastern hosts Elmira on March 12th.