ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern baseball battled both FDU-Florham and the elements on Friday afternoon before falling to the visiting Devils 14-11 in six innings. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead but eventually surrendered it before the weather forced the game to be delayed and eventually called.
In the bottom of the first inning Eastern (8-10-2, 3-4 MAC Freedom) exploded offensively scoring five runs.
Angelo Kelly led off the order with a double followed by a
Timmy Gorton walk to give the Eagles runners on first and second with no outs.
Joe Grato doubled the very next at-bat to score Kelly and give Eastern the 1-0 advantage. After
Andrew Boykin had earned a walk to load the bases,
Andrew Check came to the plate looking to extend the Eagles lead. With one swing of the bat, Check did exactly that launching a grand slam, his second of the season, to left-center and give Eastern the 5-0 lead.
FDU-Florham (7-11-1, 2-5 MAC Freedom) came roaring back in the very next inning scoring eight runs. Back-to-back singles gave the Devils runners at first and second, but
Ryan Kehr settled down and got the next two batters out on a strikeout and a groundout. It looked like Eastern would get out of the inning unharmed, but an error on the very next play plated two runs to cut the deficit to just three, 5-2. After FDU-Florham loaded the bases, three straight singles followed by a double drove in six more runs for the Devils to erase the five-run deficit to now lead by three, 8-5.
Trailing 9-6 in the bottom of the third inning, the Eagles began to chip away at the Devils lead. After
Craig Stanley and
Shane Albertson both reached base safely, Kelly singled to drive in Stanley, but an error by the first basemen also allowed Albertson to score to cut the deficit to just one, 9-8. However, FDU-Florham would tack on five more runs over the next two innings to extend its lead to 14-8.
In the bottom of the sixth inning though the Eagles rallied back once again. Grato opened up the bottom half of the inning with a double and scored one batter later after
Joseph De Los Santos doubled to make the score 14-9. Boykin then doubled the very next at-bat to plate De Los Santos cutting the deficit to just four, 14-10. Check then drew a walk and a perfect sacrifice bunt by
Tommy Strazza advanced both Check and Boykin to second and third. An RBI groundout by Stanley scored Boykin pulling the Eagles within three and what would eventually be the final score, 14-11.
The game would be delayed one inning later and after resuming play briefly in the bottom of the seventh, another storm front moved through causing the game to be called.
Kehr went 3.2 innings allowing 13 hits, 12 runs, three of which were earned, and striking out two but ultimately took the loss dropping him to 2-2 on the season. Grato finished the game going 3-4 with two RBI's and scoring three runs while Check went 1-3 with four RBI's and scored one run.
Eastern travels to FDU-Florham on April 2nd for the final two games of the series.
