ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern University Baseball (5-5, 1-1 MAC Freedom) settled for a split in the MAC Freedom-opening doubleheader against the visiting WIlkes University Colonels. The Eagles earned an 8-4 win in the opener before seeing a 4-1 lead slip away in a 9-5 loss in the nightcap. The two teams will be back at The Yard tomorrow for the final game of the series. That game, which was scheduled to be at Wilkes, was moved because of unplayable field conditions.

Tyler Bennet, Christian Shissler, and Matt Bunjo combined to stymie the Wilkes attack in the opener. Bennett allowed three runs over four innings, and Shissler worked an inning and two thirds to pick up the win. The freshman reliever ran into trouble with two outs and a 6-3 lead in the sixth. After giving up a one out single, Shissler walked a pair of Colonels to load the bases with two outs. Matt Bunjo came on to strike out Wilkes third baseman Joe Champi to escape the jam. The Eagles picked up two insurance runs in the bottom of the frame to build the lead to 8-3 before Wilkes scratched out a single run off Bunjo in the seventh.

"Matt's strikeout was a big moment for us," Head Coach Jed Morris said after the game. "We would have loved to see Christian go a little deeper, but the situation called for Matt and he came in and made his pitches." Bunjo has surrendered only five runs in 20 appearances this year and last. The junior right hander has thrown 30.2 innings in that span.

One of the Eagles' runs in the sixth came on Timmy Gorton single. The Eastern catcher tied the Eastern career RBI mark with that hit. Gorton was 4-for-6 with 3 RBI's on the day. He reached safely on six of his eight plate appearances and pushed his OPS for the year to 1.283.

The Eagles built their lead in the opener with some good execution, timely hitting, and capitalizing on some Wilkes miscues. Brad Clemens scored on an errant throw from the outfield in the third inning, and Jordan Laboy and Kyle Daddario scored on another errant throw after Daddario doubled in the fourth. Those two would likely have scored either way, as Tommy Strazza yanked a ball down the left field line for his first career home run to put the Eagles up 4-1.

The Eagles played with fire in the early going, and led 4-1, but early walks finally caught up to the Eastern staff when Wilkes scored four runs in the fifth to grab a 5-4 lead. Five Eastern pitchers walked 13 batters and hit three more, and the Colonels came up with big hits in the fifth and sixth innings to pull away.

Gorton provided a highlight in the first after Liam Clarke moved to second with one out. Gorton homered to center to pass Scott Renauro on Eastern's career RBI list. Gorton has 115 runs and 115 RBI's in 119 games as an Eagle.

The Eagles picked up single runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 7th innings but were unable to find the big hit to break the game open.

Steve Sattanino started the game and stranded five Colonels in the first two innings. He gave way to Colyn Hoffer with two on and two out in the third. Hoffer walked the first hitter he saw before getting a strikeout to close the inning with Eastern still up 4-1. Hoffer worked thorugh the fourth without difficulty, but ran into trouble after what looked to be harmless fly ball dropped in between three defenders to start the fifth. He allowed two runners to score before giving way to Justin Fredericks with runners on second and third and one out.

Fredericks retired the first hitter he faced on a ball back to the mound. It appeared that he might escape the inning with the lead when Wilkes second baseman Jack Fischer lifted a fly ball to short right-center. That ball, like the ball to start the inning, found a perfect spot between three defenders and the two runners scored easily.

"We were a little surprised by the pitching in the second game," Morris said. "Sattanino has been a really consistent strike-thrower for us. He worked out of some of his jams, but he had to throw too many high-stress pitches to do it."

Morris also noted that first baseman Freddie Yahn and DH Kyle Daddario both showed positive signs with good at bats and hard-hit balls. Those two should have RBI opportunities hitting behind Gorton as the season progresses.

"We have to come out and battle for it tomorrow," Morris concluded. "We did not execute as well as we would want to in the second game and we cannot break down like that in the long game tomorrow."

eastern will bat first tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm.