ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– After getting blanked in a tough loss in the series-opener last Friday, Eastern University Baseball found ways to score some runs and hit the ball hard against Hood's top two starters in the MAC Commonwealth doubleheader. Those runs, however, were not enough to overcome a series of defensive miscues in a pair of losses. The Blazers scored three unearned runs in the third inning of the opener and hung on for a 5-3 win. In the nightcap, the visitors took advantage of three errors to jump out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. The Eagles closed the gap, but fell 8-4.

GAME ONE:
The two teams entered today, with the blazers up a game in the league standings. The series winner would make up ground on a Widener team that dropped a series to Albright over the weekend and have an important tiebreaker over the other side. The Blazers jumped to a 2-0 lead on a Cam Day home run in the top of the first.

Day's home run was the third ball hit well of Gavin Mikulski in the inning. David Hunsberger and Garrettt Fried each swung early in the count and laced balls through the right side. Luke Meehan drove in Hunsberger with a double down the left field line and Logan Klember drove in Friend with a sacrifice fly.

With the score tied, Mikulski settled into the game. He worked around a walk in the second inning and an error in the third after the Eagles took a 3-2 lead on a pair of hits in the bottom of the second.

John Westfield came on in relief. The Blazers got a ground ball single and built a rally with a walk and a hit batsman, but it appeared that Westfield made the pitch he needed to make and got a ground ball. Two runs scored on the error, and Westfield walked the next two hitters to let another run score. Westfield struck out four in his four innings of work and did not allow a run the rest of the way.

The Eastern offense put runners on each of the last four innings, but Hood starter Joe Alexander made big pitches to strike out seven and was the beneficiary of some really good defensive plays behind him.

The win clinched the series for the Blazers.

GAME TWO:

John Beck was unable to start the first game because he was taking an exam. The opening inning of game two was another test for the senior right-hander. Hood's first two hitter reached on singles. The Eastern defense then struggled as the Blazers put balls in play on the infield and ran out plays when the Eagles failed to make outs. By the time the smoke had cleared, the Blazers led 5-0.

With the second game being a nine-inning affair, there would be time to rally.

The Eagles scratched out a single run on a Klember sacrifice fly in the fourth, and Beck left after five innings with Hood still at five runs.

After Dylan Labukas pitched a scoreless top fo the sixth, Eagles loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the frame. Klember hit a fly ball not quite deep enough to drive in a run. With two outs, Brock Langlotz smashed a ball into right center. Blazer center fielder Keegan Brennan made a tremendous diving catch on a ball that would have rolled to the fence.

Both teams hit solo home runs in the seventh. Connor Schilling's leadoff shot in the bottom of the frame answered Jacob Saylor's shot in the top half of the inning. It was the first home run of the season for Schilling.

The Eagles closed the gap to 6-4 on a Luke Meehan two-run shot to left-center in the eighth. The Eagles had a runner on second with two outs in that inning, but Brennan made a nice running catch on a line drive from Schilling to end the rally.

The guests gave themselves some margin with a two run ninth on softly hit balls off Labukas. The Eagles could not find a hole and went in order in the ninth.

Eastern will host Rosemont in a non-league single game tomorrow and will begin its weekend set against Albright at home on Friday. With six league games left, the Eagles (12-18, 4-11) are not eliminated from post-season competition, but they would need to win out and get a near perfect set of other results to sneak into the fourth spot. Hood (16-13, 7-8) is currently tied with Widener for the fourth spot, but Widener won the series between the two schools earlier in the year and has the tiebreaker.