ASTON, Pa. - Eastern Baseball's late rally came up one short in a closely contested 6-5 loss to the Neumann Knights in its first game post Spring Break. With the bases loaded and two outs, Luke Meehan crushed a 3-2 fastball to the left field fence, but a superb leaping catch from JerVal Shuler saved the game for the Knights and ended the Eagles' comeback bid.

Leyton Bamesberger led the Eastern offense with three of the Eagles' 10 hits, including a double, and a pair of RBIs. On the season, eight of Bamesberger's 14 hits have gone for extra bases. Meehan also finished with two hits, including his first home run of the season, and two RBIs, while Trent MacDougall added a pair of knocks.

Aside from the third inning, Eastern's pitching staff recorded a solid outing on the bump. John Westfield, Zackary Bollinger, Dylan Labukas, Brady Bollman, and Brayden Goss allowed a combined one earned run and only seven hits in eight innings pitched.

"It was a tough loss today," Eastern Head Coach Scott Renauro said. "Going into conference, we had to throw a lot of guys getting them ready for the weekend. The pitching staff threw strikes with all of their stuff, and outside of one inning, executed very well."

After a scoreless first inning from the Knights (4-2), the Eagles struck first in the top of the second inning. Matthew Gonglik began the frame with a single and a stolen base. Two batters later, Bamesberger singled to right field to score Gonglik and put the Eagles ahead 1-0.

The lead remained 1-0 until the fourth, when the Neumann offense finally found some steady ground against Eastern pitching. Neumann collected three of their four hits in the frame before the Eagles recorded an out. A solo shot from Andrew Brown and a two-run double from Tyler Kilmer put the Knights ahead 3-1, before a two-run single from AJ Nardo increased the Neumann advantage to four runs.

Eastern began their push in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs on three hits and one Neumann error. A Meehan single scored MacDougall from third, before a Bamesberger double scored Meehan to cut the Neumann lead to 5-3. Brian Lang scored moments later on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, and the Eagles headed to the bottom of the sixth trailing 5-4.

Neumann pushed its lead back to two in the sixth on a sac bunt, but Meehan answered back with his first home run of the season in the top of the eight. After a long at-bat, the junior from Allentown launched one over the left field wall to cut the Neumann advantage to 6-5.

The Eagles went on to load the bases in the ninth, setting the table for a potential game-breaking play. Pinch hitter Jaden Taylor reached on a fielding error, MacDougall singled, and Robert Del Buono walked, bringing Meehan back to the plate. After another patient at-bat, Meehan rocked a 3-2 fastball to the left field fence, and at first glance it looked to have enough distance. However, Shuler made a tremendous leaping grab, snagging the ball out of the air at the fence to win the game for the Knights.

"The position players continue to swing it well," Renauro continued. "Even guys who didn't enter the stat sheet with a hit found barrels today. Not an easy loss to swallow when have the bases loaded and a grand slam robbed to end the game. However, they have shown they will continue to play hard until the end. We feel ready going into conference play this weekend."

Eastern will begin the MAC Commonwealth portion of its schedule on Friday with a single, nine-inning game against Widener where it will serve as the home team. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 pm in Chester.