ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – A pair of bad innings turned out to cost Eastern University Baseball as the team dropped both ends of a home doubleheader to Misericordia University Cougars. The Cougars took the opener 7-0 and held off an Eastern rally in the second to sweep the series with an 8-6 win.

A seven-sixth for the guests broke open a brilliant pitching duel between Ryan Kehr and Misericordia's Garrett Pelko. Pelko had a perfect game going for five and a third innings. Britton Lawrence reached on an error in the sixth, and Angelo Kelly coaxed a walk with one out in the seventh, but Pelko completed the no-hitter with a pair of fly ball outs.

While the Eagles did not get a hit off Pelko, they made about as much solid contact off the Misericordia lefty as the Cougars did off Kehr. Timmy Gorton hit a ball to the warning track in right center and Shane Albertson hit a one-hop smash off the Misericordia second baseman for an out. The Cougar rally started innocently enough with a bloop single to center. When Kehr's inside pitch hit the next Cougar hitter, the game changed. A botched fielding play on a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases with no one out.

With Pelko pitching as he was, the Eastern coaching staff elected to bring the infield in with no one out. The ground ball through the drawn in infield would have scored the difference-making run on a double play, but with infield in, it turned into a two-run single. The Cougars plated five more runs on a variety of aggressive base running plays nd well placed weak contact.

Kehr struck out six through his first five innings of work. He did not give up an extra-base hit. Matt Bunjo retired all four hitters he faced, but after the 7-run sixth the only drama in the game was whether Pelko would keep the normally potent Eastern offense from reaching.

Game two started with a bad inning. The Cougars hit ground balls through holes for the entire first inning. Misericordia scored six runs on eight singles in the inning. Josh Freed, who battled toa complete-game win over DeSales last weekend, struck out the 12th batter he faced to get out of the inning, but his day ended after the first.

Unlike the first game, the Eagles made solid contact throughout the nightcap. The comeback effort started with three-straight hits in the first. Freddy Yahn drove Angelo Kelly in with a sacrifice fly, but the big inning did not materialize. The Eagles chipped away with two more in the second. Kelly had an RBI double, and Shane Albertson drove in another run with a fly ball to right.

Roniel Diaz worked through the second and third innings without significant trouble. He was the beneficiary of a heads up play from Albertson with runner on first and second with one out in the second. A soft line drive to short had both base runners frozen at their bags. Albertson let the ball drop and threw to second for the force. Jordan Laboy's throw beat the runner to third for a tag play.

When Diaz ran into a little trouble in the fourth, Matt Bunjo again came on to help out. Bunjo struck out the final hitter of the inning to strand two Cougars.

"Our guys from the bull pen did well today." Head Coach Jed Morris said after the games. "Bunjo threw all three games in the series, and Roniel made the most of his chance."

Eastern had the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, but they could only plate a single run on a Timmy Gorton sacrifice fly in the inning. The frustration continued with hard-hit balls for outs in the fifth and sixth innings. The Cougars, to their credit, made plays behind their pitcher. Gorton ripped a ground ball down the first base line that turned into a ground out on a diving stop to end the sixth.

The Cougars built their lead to 8-4 headed to the seventh, but the Eagles refused to quit. Hits from Andrew Boykin, Zach Belansek, and Jordan Laboy loaded the bases with no one out. As happened on Friday at Misericordia, a hard ground ball turned into two outs. Brady DiGiacomo singled to drive int he final run of the game, but the deficit proved too great.

The Eagles host Gwynedd Mercy on Tuesday before returning to MAC Freedom play with a critical weekend series against Delaware Valley.