ST. DAVIDS, Pa– Eastern University Baseball used strong pitching and defense to claim a 5-2 win over the visiting Albright College Lions in the opening game of the second-to-last MAC Commonwealth series of the year for both teams.
Sean Cottrell went seven innings to became the first Eastern pitcher in the NCAA era to win five games in a season, and
Zackary Bollinger struck out three hitters to claim a six-out save.
The biggest moment of the game came with the visiting Lions threatening in eighth. The Eagles came into he inning with a 5-0 lead, but the first two Lions singled and a run scored on a fly ball error. When Cottrell hit the next batter, Head Coach
Scott Renauro had to go to his bullpen.
In the toughest of spots, Bollinger was equal to the task. The junior right-hander struck out the first hitter. The second hitter topped a ball off the wet dirt in front of the plate.
Griffin Falco got to it quickly and threw out the batter from his backside. Bollinger finished off the inning with a second strikeout.
After the Eagles went quietly in the eighth, Bollinger retired the first two Lions on ground ball outs before picking up a save with his third strikeout.
Cottrell gave up three hits in the first two innings and needed a big strikeout and a nice defensive play from
Luke Meehan at first to escape a second and third with one out situation in the second.
The Eagles had runners at first and second in the first, but with the runners in motion, Meehan hit a ball over the third base bag, where the third baseman had run to cover the steal, that turned into a routine double play. The Eagles got their first three runs on a lengthy rally in the second.
Logan Klember doubled to start it, and
Connor Schilling and
Leyton Bamesberger walked to load the bases.
Thomas Kozlusky delivered a two-run single. After
Evan Barks walked with two outs and runners on second and third. Meehan hit a ball to the fence in center field, but a nice running catch ended the rally.
Cottrell allowed only two base-runners between the third and seventh inning and looked very strong. With several competitive battles, he wound up well over a 100 pitches for his outing.
The Eagles added a pair of insurance runs on a
Ryan Turzani single in the bottom of the sixth. Schilling and Bamesberger again scored for the Eagles.
"This game started with the dominant pitching performance," Renauro said. "We really harped on spots this week on the mound. Getting ourselves into good counts on the mound. Sean executed his pitches today. This was the start we needed.
"We did enough with timely hitting today, " Renauro continuted. "I would like to see us score in more innings but I felt like we put good swings on baseballs and barreled balls throughout the game.
Ryan Turzani has been playing well in practice so it was a day to give him a shot. He came through with a huge knock for our guys today."
The game was highlighted by a reunion of several players from the 1989 Eastern College Baseball team that reached the NCCAA World series. The group included all three starting outfielders, a pair of pitchers and starting catcher Jerry Witkowski and Head Coach Ed Colliins.
The win keeps the Eagles alive, but elsewhere in the conference, Hood picked up a home win over York to reduce their magic number against Eastern to one, for the final spot in the tournament. Should Hood sweep York, the Blazers would move in front of York in the standings. The Eagles (14-18, 5-11) own a tiebreaker over York, but the Eagles can only get to ten league wins. York is at nine wins with five games to play. The Spartans' final series is against Alvernia.
The Eagles are at Albright for a noon doubleheader tomorrow.
