READING, Pa. - Coming off a strong win yesterday at The Yard to begin it series with Albright, Eastern Baseball earned it first conference sweep of the season and kept it playoff hopes alive with two more wins over the Lions this afternoon.
John Beck stiffed the Albright offense, while
Evan Barks and
Connor Schilling led Eastern's in a 6-0 win in game one, before Eastern won a thriller, 2-1, in 12 innings in game two.
With its sweep of the Lions, coupled with Hood's sweep of York, if Eastern were to sweep Stevenson this coming weekend, and Alvernia wins its series against the Spartans, the Eagles would make the MAC Commonwealth tournament for the first time since the 2021 season.
Barks played a huge part in keeping Eastern's playoff dreams in place. The Elkton, Md. native finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs in the opener, before recording the game-winning sacrifice bunt in the second contest.
After a scoreless first two innings in game one, Barks came through in the third. After
Ryan Turzani was hit by a pitch and
Garrett Friend reached on an Albright fielding error, Barks hit his first double of the game to left field, scoring both Turzani and Friend to put the Eagles ahead 2-0.
Those two runs proved to be the only runs that Beck (3-5) needed. The senior from Butler, N.J. allowed just two baserunners in his final five frames, striking out four in his third win of the season. Beck also recorded 10 flyouts and six groundouts in the complete game triumph.
Eastern scored two more runs in the sixth to increase its lead. Barks began the frame with his second double, before
Luke Meehan singled to put two on with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt from Klember moved both runners up a base, and Schilling delivered with a two-run double to center field. The Eagles added two more insurance runs in the seventh on another Albright miscue and an RBI single from Klember. Klember and Meehan each finished with a pair of hits in the contest.
Eastern's foursome of
Gavin Mikulski,
John Westfield,
Dylan Labukas, and
Zackary Bollinger pitched brillantly in game two, combining to strike out 10 batters and allow just one run. Bollinger, after picking up his first save of the season yesterday, recorded his first win, striking out three in the final four innings of the contest.
"Our pitching was excellent this whole series," Eastern Head Coach
Scott Renauro said. "In game one, John located and got ahead of most of their hitters. When he does that, it's tough for a lot of hitters to get going. In the second game, we left one ball up and they made us pay scoring their run. However, our pitchers were in the zone with multiple pitches and attacked their guys early."
Eastern opened the scoring in the third inning. After back-to-back singles from
Thomas Kozlusky and
Garrett Friend, a double steal resulted in Kozlusky stealing home, putting the Eagles ahead 1-0.
Eastern held that lead until the eighth inning, before Albright's Chris Gorla homered with two outs to tie the contest at 1-1 and eventually force extra innings. It took three extra frames, but the Eagles prevailed. Turzani began the inning with a single, and Friend recorded his second base hit to put runners on the corners with one out. Barks ended up with the game-winning play, hitting a sacrifice bunt to score Turzani and put the Eagles ahead for good. Bollinger pitched a near-perfect 12th frame to secure the conference sweep.
"Offensively, Barks really hit and lead our offense," Renauro continued. "When we stay with a lower launch angle approach, we are better. It was a gritty win, but we pulled it out and kept our season alive."
Turzani finished 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Friend and Klember each finished with a pair of hits.
Eastern (16-18, 7-11) will be back in action on Wednesday for a single, non-conference contest against Penn State Berks. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 pm.
