MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Behind a pitching gem from junior
John Beck, together with remarkable offensive production, Eastern Baseball (1-7) earned their first win of the season on Thursday afternoon with a commanding 18-0 victory over the Newport News Apprentice School Builders (8-3). Beck put together a career-outing on the bump, while the Eastern offense racked up 20 hits, six extra base knocks, and 17 runs batted in.
Beck (1-1) spun six brilliant shutout innings, striking out a career-high 10 batters. Additionally, the junior from Butler, N.J. allowed just one hit, a single, in six frames of work.
Coming off a strong performance against Methodist the night before,
David Hunsberger set the tone in the top of the first. After a two-out walk to
Matt McHale, Hunsberger doubled to the right field wall, scoring McHale to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Beck struck out two of the first three batters he faced in the bottom of the first, and
Ben Chiara gave the Eagles a 2-0 advantage with a double in the second.
After Beck struck out the side in the bottom of the second, the Eagles scored four runs in the top of the third.
Sean Cottrell scored on a double steal to make it 3-0, before
Camden Angell's first home run as an Eagle increased the Eastern lead to 5-0.
Griffin Falco capped off the rally with an RBI double to left center.
Falco added another RBI, a sacrifice fly in the fifth, before Eastern's offense exploded for six more runs in the sixth. RBI doubles from Falco and Cottrell, together with RBI single from McHale, Angell, and
Mark Cruser, put the Eagles ahead 13-0.
Hunsberger put the game on ice in the seventh inning. After a three-run home run against Methodist on Wednesday, the Vineland, N.J. native crushed a grand slam over the right field well to push Eastern's lead to 17-0. After two games in Virginia and six in South Carolina, Hunsberger leads the Eagles with two home runs and nine runs batted in. Falco capped off the scoring with his fifth RBI of the day, a single to left field, to secure Eastern's victory.
Cottrell, Hunsberger, Angell, and Falco combined 12 hits, seven runs scored, and 14 runs batted in. McHale, Cruser, and Chiara each added two hits and an RBI.
Eastern dropped the second game to Apprentice School 10-1. Chiara, Hunsberger,
Connor Schilling, and
Brian Lang each recorded a hit, while
Brock Langlotz drove in the Eagles' lone run on an RBI groundout.
With the conclusion of their Spring Break trip, Eastern returns to Pennsylvania this weekend before traveling to Muhlenberg on Tuesday for a single contest. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm.
