READING, Pa. - Trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh of game one on Saturday, Eastern Baseball rallied with a pair of runs in the seventh and the game-winning run in the eighth to beat the Albright Lions 3-2 at Kelchner Field.
Justin DiCesare delivered the game-winning knock, scoring
Robert Del Buono from second base to lift the Eagles to their third conference win of the season.
DiCesare's late game heroics were set up by Del Buono and
Matthew Gonglik in the bottom of the seventh. After Albright Dominic Yeager foiled the Eastern offense for the first six innings, Del Buono delivered the game-changing hit. On the first pitch he saw in the seventh, Del Buono crushed his fourth home run of the year over the center field wall to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Gonglik delivered the second big hit for the Eagles a few minutes later, With
Trevor Harris on third and a two-strike count, the sophomore ripped an RBI single to left field to tie the game at 2-2.
After another strong start for
Graham Adams,
Chris Humphreys (1-0) entered the game in relief with one out in the top of the eighth inning. The first-year pitcher from New Fairfield pitched a scoreless 0.2 frames, inducing a flyout before striking out Albright's Chris Gorla to keep the game tied.
The Eagles had a little two-out magic left in the bottom of the eighth. After back-to-back flyouts, Del Buono singled, and a subsequent throwing error from Albright shortstop Jack Gilmer allowed the Langhorne native to reach second base. DiCesare made the most of his chance, singling through the left side to deliver the Eagles a walk-off, extra innings win.
Luke Meehan, who had a strong day at the plate overall, led the Eagles with three hits in four at-bats, while Gonglik, Del Buono, and
Thomas Kozlusky each finished with two. Adams was masterful on the bump for Eastern, pitching 7.1 innings and allowing just four hits and two early runs. The sophomore from Lumberton racked up seven strikeouts, and kept the game close until the Eastern offense could get going late.
It was a back-and-forth affair in game two. After three early runs by the Lions, Eastern responded with five straight runs in the second through fourth innings. Kozlusky hit a two-run, two-out double with two strikes in the second frame, and a solo shot by Meehan, followed by another DiCesare RBI single, gave the Eagles a 4-3 lead.
Gonglik added to the Eastern lead, hitting a solo shot, his second of the year, to put the Eagles ahead 5-3. However, Albright was able to battle its way back. A two-run double by Nathan Goldman in the sixth, followed by an RBI single from Christian Eckstein in the top of the eighth, with another run coming home on an Eastern fielding error, put the Lions ahead 7-5. The Eagles got one back in the bottom of the eighth on a Meehan sacrifice fly, but the Eagles stranded the bases loaded to fall one run short of a doubleheader sweep.
Meehan finished with another pair of hits and two RBIs in the nightcap, and Del Buono added another two hits. Gonglik, DiCesare, and Kozlusky each recorded run-scoring knocks in the game two loss.
The Eagles will be back in Reading on Tuesday for a single game against Penn State Berks on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm.
