UNION, N.J. - Eastern Baseball battled valiantly against the Kean Cougars all Saturday afternoon, but came up short in both contests, suffering a pair of 4-3 losses, one of which came on a walk-off, sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th. Kean has one of the top programs in all of NCAA DIII baseball, suffering just losing season since 1996 and winning a national championship in 2007.
In the opener, the Cougars struck first, scoring three of their four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Over the next three frames, however, the Eagles clawed their way back. After a two-out single by Connor Schilling in the third, Brad Clemens followed with a triple down the right field line, plating Schilling to make it 3-1. Clemens scored a few moments later on a Kean fielding error, trimming the Cougars' lead down to one run.
The Eagles tied the contest in the top of the fourth inning. David Hunsberger led off the frame with a double, and Mark Cruser followed with an RBI double down the left field line. But an RBI groundout for the Cougars in the top of the fifth allowed them to regain the advantage for good. The Eagles' best chance came in the sixth with runners on second and third with two outs, but a strikeout ended the threat. In the final three innings, the Eagles had just two baserunners.
Griffin Falco started the scoring in the nightcap, singling home Clemens for the early 1-0 lead, but the Cougars answered back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Kean took the lead on an RBI sacrifice bunt in the fourth, before Matt McHale responded with a home run, his third of the season, to left field.
Five scoreless innings followed, as neither team, despite multiple opportunities, was able to push a run across. Finally, the Eagles were able to break the 2-2 tie in the top of the 12th. A pinch hit double by Brian Lang put a runner in scoring position to start the frame, and Falco came through yet again, singling to left-center to put Eastern ahead. However, despite loading the bases with nobody out, the Eagles could not add to their lead, following up a Draig Cooley single with two strikeouts and an infield fly.
Kean took advantage of Eastern's missed chances, ending the contest with a pair of sacrifice flies in the bottom of the 12th.
"We had a tough two today," Eastern Head Coach Scott Renauro said. "We battled for eight hours and just came up short in both. Their pitching is very good, but we battled at the plate with a few big hits in both games. Our pitching matched theirs with quality starts from Cottrell and Beck. We were able to keep a quality offense off balance most of the games. We're optimistic for conference play if we keep that approach at the plate and get the quality pitching we had the past week."
Hunsberger and Cooley each finished 2-for-4 in game one, while Schilling finished 2-for-5 with a run scored. In game two, McHale and Falco combined for four hits and three RBIs. On the mound, John Beck, Liam O'Connor, Henry Hutchinson and Logan Culp combined to give up just seven hits and one earned run in 10 innings of work.
Eastern will begin MAC Commonwealth play on Tuesday evening, welcoming Widener to The Yard for a single, nine-inning contest. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 pm.
