St. DAVIDS, Pa.– After rain postponed the start of the second MAC Freedom series of the season, Josh Freed took the ball a day late and looked very comfortable in delivering his second-consecutive seven-inning outing. Eastern University Baseball's senior right-hander struck out seven and allowed just a single earned run in a 12-2 home win over the Wilkes University Colonels (5-11, 0-4 MAC Freedom).

The Eagles (6-8, 2-2 MAC Freedom) gave Freed all the run support he would need with a three-run first innings. Freddy Yahn and Timmy Gorton each delivered RBI doubles in the frame. Jordan Laboy drove in the third run of the inning with a single to left field after Joseph DeLosSantos reached on an error. Gorton and DeLosSantos were the two biggest offensive stars of the day for an Eastern line-up that pounded out 14 hits. Gorton went 5-for-5 with three doubles and a pair of RBI's, and DeLosSantos was 3-for-4 with four RBI's.

That pair hit back-to-back doubles to the fence in the third inning to put the Eagles up 4-0.

"Timmy has been very consistent with his swing, "Head Coach Jed Morris said. "which has kept him from grounding out on tough inside pitches.  He's hitting those balls on a line and in the gap right now.  DeLos is a spark plug for us. Everyone feeds off of his energy."

Freed, meanwhile, allowed single baserunners in the second, third and fourth innings, but pitched around trouble each time. The Eastern defense turned a double play in the second before Shane Albertson delivered a sparkling play on a ball hit deep in the hole.

Wilkes picked up an unearned run in the fifth on a hit and an error and looked to have a serious rally going with runners on second and third with one out and one in. Freed snared a big bouncer through the middle, checked the runner at third and threw to first for the second out of the inning. He got the final batter of the inning to hit a soft ground ball back to the mound.

"Freed's tempo was great today," Morris said of his starter. "All three of our weekend starters started out as two way players, so we expect them to field their positions well. He had a little extra life on his fastball today which helped him out of jams. He always seems to get better as he gets into the game, but he had great focus and execution from the start."

Freed's big play seemed to give the Eagles momentum heading into the bottom of the inning. After Freddy Yahn singled and Gorton doubled, DeLosSantos knocked them both home with his second of three hits on the afternoon. Eastern scored three more runs in the inning to lead 9-1 heading to the top of the sixth.

The Eagles scored twice in the bottom of the sixth before Wilkes plated a single run in the seventh. Gorton doubled and scored on a DeLos Santos double. Britton Lawrence entered the game as a pinch runner for DeLosSantos and scored on Craig Stanley's single up the middle.

Andrew Behnam pitched around a pair fo walks for a scoreless eighth inning and Justin Frederick pitched a scoreless ninth. Frederick worked around a bases-loaded jam with a strike out and a soft line drive to short to end the game. 

The series will wrap up with a pair of games at Wilkes tomorrow. Head Coach Jed Morris was appreciative of the work his team did to get the field ready for the game after the heavy rains and very grateful for the people who have invested in the program to provide the surface improvements and infield tarp. This was the first time that The Yard has been playable a day after a full day of heavy rain, and Morris and the team are very grateful for those who have made the improvements possible.

"We have started making our 'mental bed' every day." Morris concluded.  "It does not matter who we are facing. We have seen the team benefit from this approach.  Tomorrow's games are simply the next games that we need to win."