TRENTON, N.J. - Despite a valiant effort in both contests on Saturday afternoon, Eastern Baseball dropped its final two games in its season series to the MAC Commonwealth leading Messiah Falcons, 4-2 and 7-6, at Arm & Hammer Park. The Eagles (12-22, 5-13) had their chances in both games, battling back a multitude of times to give themselves a chance to either tie or take the lead, but always came up one run short. Over the course of both games, the Eagles left 17 runners on base.

Despite the defeats, several Eastern players had banner days. Senior Brian Lang hit a solo home run in the fourth inning of game two for his seventh home run of the seaspm and the 15th of his Eastern career. His seventh round tripper ties former teammate Sean Cottrell, who hit seven in 2022, and Tyler Orr, who had seven of his own back in 2013, for the second-most home runs in a single season in program history. Additionally, Lang sits in a tie for first on the career home run list with former teammate Matt McHale, who had 15 in his tremendous career from 2019-2023. 

Junior Luke Meehan continued to tear the cover off the baseball on Saturday. He recorded four more hits over the course of both games, giving him 55 hits on the season. As of this writing, his 55 hits rank fifth on the Eastern single season list, and his 13 doubles put him in a tie for sixth. 

In game one, after a scoreless opening two frames, the Falcons (23-12, 16-2) struck first in the third on a Jarrett Gordon RBI double and a Drew Hurst RBI single to take a 2-0 lead. Meehan put the Eagles on the board with an RBI double of his own with two outs in the third, but he was left stranded. 

Two innings later, Parido put the Falcons ahead with an RBI single, and once again, the Eagles answered back. Meehan recorded his second RBI of the game, this time on a single up the middle, to score Thomas Kozlusky in the bottom of the fifth. 

The Eagles, however, left a pair of runners stranded with one out as the Falcons retained their one-run lead. Messiah added an insurance run on an RBI fielders choice from Hurst to eventually secure the two-run win. Meehan led the Eagles with a pair of hits, while Kozlusky, Taylor, Lang, Brock Langlotz, and Zach Mornell each finished with one. 

The Falcons came out swinging in game two, scoring a pair of runs in each of the second, third, and fifth frames. Lang cut the Messiah lead to 2-1 with an RBI double in the third inning, but again, the Eagles left a runner stranded at third with a chance to tie the game. 

The Eastern bats came alive in the sixth frame after recording four hits in the first five. Lang kicked off the inning with a solo shot to left field, before the Eagles loaded the bases with hits from Kozlusky and Luca Marinucci and a walk to Taylor. Langlotz scored on a wild pitch and Meehan ripped a single through the right side to make it 6-4, and a bases-loaded walk to Matthew Gonglik with one out cut the Messiah advantage to 6-5. That was as close as the Eagles would get as Messiah pitcher Owen Hannevig recorded two straight outs with the bases loaded to end the Eastern threat. 

Both teams scored a single run in the eighth. Messiah's Nick Moyer hit an RBI single to make it 7-5 Falcons, and JJ Matos answered back with a two-out, RBI double to again cut the deficit to one. Again, that was as close as the Eagles would get. The Falcons went on to pitch a clean ninth to secure the season series sweep. 

The Eagles finished with 11 hits in the second game, with Meehan, Lang, Langlotz, and Taylor each finishing with two. Brennan Moloughney had a solid outing for the Eagles despite the loss, striking out seven batters in four innings and allowing just three earned runs. 

Eastern will be back in the road on Tuesday for a single contest against Immaculata. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm.