ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Eastern Baseball (2-8) battled back from an early deficit and rode a tremendous relief effort from Zackary Bollinger and Keegan Bowling to a 9-5 victory over Muhlenberg on Thursday evening. The Eagles scored six runs in the final three innings, which included four in the eighth, to pull away.  

Bollinger (1-0) earned his first win in an Eastern uniform with five solid frames of work. The sophomore from Reading allowed only one hit and one unearned run while striking out two. Bowling recorded his first collegiate save with three strikeouts in the final 1.2 innings. The first-year pitcher from Pylesville, Md. escaped two bases-loaded jams in back-to-back innings to clinch the win for Eastern. 

"Bollinger has been locked in in practices and game plans," Eastern Head Coach Scott Renauro said. "He showed his stuff today. Bowling understood what was needed from him. Although he got into trouble at times, he went right after a solid lineup."

Muhlenberg (3-2-1) struck first in the opening frame, scoring on an error, an RBI triple from Jonathon Toth, and an RBI single from Aidan Legner to grab an early 3-0 advantage. The Eagles, however, were able to cut the Muhlenberg lead to one with two runs in the top of the third. Brian Lang hit his first double of the season to right field, and with two outs, first-year second baseman Ben Chiara hit an RBI single to left to make it a 3-1 lead for the Mules. Matt McHale followed with his second double of the year to the left center field gap, plating Chiara and trimming the Muhlenberg advantage to 3-2. 

In the fifth inning, David Hunsberger drove in his team-leading 10th run of the season with a single to right field to tie the contest at 3-3. The Mules, however, were able to answer on a sacrifice fly from Legner, regaining their one-run advantage in the process. 

Camden Angell began the seventh inning by reaching second base on a Muhlenberg throwing error before advancing to third on a wild pitch. The graduate student from Hermitage, Tenn. eventually scored on another Muhlenberg fielding miscue to tie the contest at 4-4. 

After another strong inning from Bollinger, Eastern's offense finally broke through with four runs on four hits and another Mules' error. Logan Klember and Joe Paradise hit back-to-back infield singles to begin the rally, and Jason Hall's RBI base knock to left field scored Klember to give the Eagles the lead. A throwing error on a Garrett Friend bunt plated Paradise and Hall, and a Chiara sacrifice fly to center field put the Eagles ahead 8-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth. 

The Mules threatened in their half of the inning, loading the bases with one out and getting one run back, but Bowling recorded a strikeout and induced a groundout to Hunsberger to limit the damage. The Eagles added one more insurance run in the ninth inning on a Hunsberger steal of home, and Bowling escaped another jam with a pair of strikeouts in the bottom half of the frame to secure the Eagles' victory. 

"That is the type of game we have been waiting for," Renauro said. "We didn't play a perfect game, but we fought. At the plate, we executed when we needed to. Timely hitting up and down the lineup is something we haven't been getting recently, and today, we ended up doing that."

Nine different Eagles recorded both a hit and a run scored in the contest, while Chiara drove in a team-high two runs. Hunsberger, who set the program record with 23 stolen bases last season, stole a career-high five bags against the Mules. The senior from Vineland, N.J. now has a team-high nine swipes in Eastern's first 10 games. 

The Eagles begin the conference portion of their schedule on Saturday with a doubleheader against Alvernia in Reading. First pitch is scheduled for 12 noon.