ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Eastern Baseball completed the series sweep of Delaware Valley University on Sunday afternoon taking game one by the final of 15-9 and game two by a final of 4-3. The Eagles used offense to come back and win game one and in game two rallied behind the arm of Tommy Strazza to claim the victory. 

"A huge couple of wins today, they kept our playoff hopes alive," said Head Coach Jed Morris. "Our offense can feed off of each other so when we got the inning rolling and the pitcher either gave up a walk or the defense gave up an error our guys were ready to take advantage."

Eastern (12-14-3, 6-7 MAC Freedom) fell behind early in the first game of a Sunday afternoon's doubleheader 6-0 after the first three innings. After pulling back within a one or two runs on two separate occasions, the Eagles used an eight-run sixth inning to take the lead and never look back to earn the win. 

After falling behind 6-0 after three Eastern pulled within two scoring four runs in the bottom half of the third. Angelo Kelly and Timmy Gorton tallied back-to-back RBI singles to help cut the deficit to just four at 6-2. Andrew Boykin then hit a two-run RBI double to center field later in the inning to score both Kelly and Gorton to pull the Eagles within just two. 

Eastern entered the bottom of the fifth inning trailing 8-6 after the Aggies had tacked on a run in both the fourth and fifth innings. After two of the first two Eagles batters recorded outs back-to-back singles by Craig Stanley and Jordan Laboy loaded the bases for Kelly. Kelly seized the opportunity and delivered a two-run RBI single to tie the game at 8-8. Gorton would triple on the very next at-bat to plate the go-ahead runs to give the Eagles their first lead of the afternoon. Two consecutive doubles by Boykin and Andrew Check scored four more runs for the Eagles to stretch the lead to 14-8.

Each team would add on more run in the sixth inning to make the score final at 15-9.

In game two the Eagles used a four-run first inning to take a 4-1 lead and Strazza took over from there allowing only three runs over six innings of work to keep the Aggies offense in check.

Joe Grato doubled to score Gorton to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Two straight singles by both Check and Shane Albertson plated three runs to stretch the lead to 4-1. 

"Grato has been mentally locked in all year," stated Morris. "One thing he has benefitted from is that he now stays back better, which has helped with pitch selection.  He focused more on hitting his pitch and not giving in."

After Delaware Valley had tacked on two more runs in the second inning, it looked as if the Aggies would come back to tie the game in the fourth. Check, however, made the play of the game and possibly the series. A single by Delaware Valley looked as if it would score the game-tying run but Check fielded the ball and threw a dart to Laboy who applied the tag to record the third out. 

Strazza turned in a solid performance on the mound going six innings, allowing eight hits, and three runs, while striking out three. Over his final innings, he held the Aggies scoreless while striking out two to help preserve the lead.  

"Tommy Strazza is a gritty competitor, and it was great to see him back at full strength," continued Morris. "The timing of this and him being able to help us in this way today couldn't have been better. He just attacked knowing that we would have his back offensively."

Check came in the seventh inning to close out the game and earn his first save of the season. 

Eastern travels to Rowan on April 19th for a 3:30 pm start.