GRANTHAM, Pa. - On Saturday, Eastern Baseball opened its season series against the Messiah Falcons at Starry Baseball Field with a pair of early contests. The Eagles could not find much of a rhythm on offense, recording just eight hits on the afternoon in 3-1 and 11-1 defeats at the hands of the Falcons.
The Falcons (17-6, 7-1) scored single runs in the second, fourth, and fifth frames to build a 3-0 lead in the opener. They scored their first on an Eastern fielding error, their second on an RBI triple from David Martinez, and their third on an RBI single from Drew Hurst. Eastern put together a late rally, as Logan Klember recorded a pinch hit double to score David Hunsberger and the Eagles loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but the Falcons escaped with a flyout to end Eastern's comeback attempt.
Evans Barks put together another strong game at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with a double. Klember finished with a double and an RBI, while Griffin Falco finished 1-for-2 at the dish. Despite the loss, it was another solid outing for senior John Beck. The Butler, N.J. native gave us just two earned runs and five hits while striking out four in six innings of work.
Messiah scored its first three runs in the third inning of game two to take a lead it would not relinquish. Sophomore outfielder Thomas Kozlusky hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Connor Schilling and cut the lead to 3-1, but the Falcons answered with eight unanswered runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to secure the doubleheader sweep.
"It was a tough day today," Eastern Head Coach Scott Renauro said. "Moving the game up and having a shortened pregame due to weather was a challenge we needed to fight through today. John pitched well enough to give us a chance to win in the first game, but we couldn't get anything going offensively early. We squared a few balls up but right back at their guys. We have a few adjustments that we need make in all three facets of the game. We let this day get away from us, but we'll be back at it again competing this week."
Schilling went 2-for-3 from the dish with a run scored, while Matthew Gonglik and Garrett Friend finished with the Eagles' two other hits.
Eastern (11-10, 4-4) will conclude its season series with Messiah on Monday afternoon at The Yard. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 pm.
