ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Fresh off a tough loss yesterday, Eastern Baseball bounced back in a big way on Thursday afternoon with an 11-1 win, mercy-rule win over PSU Abington. The Eagles finished with 14 hits, six of which were for extra bases, and the duo of Graham Adams and Peter Mellana combined for seven innings of one-run ball.

JJ Matos had a career-day at the plate, finishing with a pair of doubles, a three-run home run, two runs scored, and a career-best five runs batted in. Trent MacDougall also finished with a pair of doubles and a pair of runs, while Luke Meehan finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles. First-years Jason Gregory and Justin Rodriguez also had strong days at the plate, each collecting a pair of hits in Eastern's win.

"Hitter took better approaches into the batters box," Eastern Head Coach Scott Renauro said. "Instead of trying to do too much early, we lowered the launch angle and hit more balls on a line than in the air. That helped us with rallies before the big blast from JJ. It was a really good way to start our spring break."

Eastern started the scoring early and often, scoring four runs in the first frame. After a MacDougall double and Robert Del Buono walk led off the frame, Meehan's single to right-center scored both to give Eastern a 2-0 lead. Matos and Thomas Kozlusky put the Eagles up 4-0 on a pair of RBI doubles.

After Penn State scored its lone run in the top of the second, the Eagles scored two more in the bottom of the third. Matos' second RBI double scored Gregory from first base, and Trevor Harris followed with an RBI single to right to increase Eastern's advantage to five runs.

Eastern blew the game open in the sixth with four more runs. Gregory scored Meehan with an infield single, his first collegiate RBI, before Matos hit Eastern's second home run at the New Yard over the left-center field wall to make it a 10-1 Eastern lead. It was also the second career round tripper for the sophomore from Puerto Rico. Meehan secured the mercy rule victory in the seventh, plating MacDougall on an RBI single up the middle of the infield.

Adams (1-0) recorded his first quality start in his second appearance of the season, pitching six innings of nearly flawless baseball. The junior gave up just four hits and finished with a pair of strikeouts. Adams escaped an early jam in the second inning, inducing an inning-ending groundout with a pair of runners in scoring position, and allowed just two baserunners in his final four innings of work.

"Graham gave us a great quality start being in the zone with all his pitches today," Renauro continued. "That has been a big emphasis as of late for our staff."

Mellana, in his first outing of the season, pitched a scoreless seventh, working around a leadoff single to record a pair of strikeouts and a groundout.

Eastern (2-2) will be back at the Yard on Saturday for a doubleheader with Penn State York before heading to Myrtle Beach for Spring Break. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 noon.