ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— Eastern University Baseball scored five runs in its final two innings to pull away to an important 8-3 MAC Commonwealth win over the visiting Albright College Lions. Albright scored the first two runs of the game, but the Eastern bullpen allowed only one run over the final five innings, and the offense came to life late to give the Eagles a chance to take a league series with the doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow.
After Perter Mellana threw two scoreless innings in relief, the Lions picked up an unearned run off
Dylan Labukas in the top of the seventh.
The Eagles (14-7, 3-4) grabbed the lead for good after a
Trevor Harris lead-off single turned into a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the seventh. After
Luke Meehan lined out to deep right-center for the second out, Matt Gonglik singled and
Matt McSorley walked to load the bases. Thomas Koslusky knifed the first pitch he saw into the gap in right-center to drive in a pair. The damage could have been worse, but Albright center-fielder Christian Eckstein turned in an inning-ending diving catch on a
Justin DiCesare line-drive into the gap.
Owen DeLong threw a clean inning in the eighth, and the Eastern offense started quickly in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Alphonso reached on an infield single and Harris drove him home with a triple into the left-field corner. MacDougall and Meehan reached by a hit-by-pitch and a walk, and Harris came home when Gonglik took a ball off his ribs. McSorley, who had a pair of hard-hit doubles in the game picked up a sacrifice fly on a pop-up to short right field.
With the lead now five runs, DeLong returned to the field and pitched to contact. Two Lions reached on ground balls, but DeLong fielded the final out himself to pick up the squad's first save of the year.
Eastern scored in the third on an RBI single from MacDougall after
JJ Matos reached on a lead-off single. They tied the game at two on an RBI single from
Robert Del Buono in the fourth, and went up 3-2 on an RBI ground out from Del Buono in the sixth. The Eagles had 14 hits with four doubles and a triple. Nine of Albright's ten hits were singles.
Graham Adams started the game and threw four innings.
The Eagles and Lions (10-6-1) are now tied at 3-4 in the middle of a crowded league table. Widener beat York in the nine-inning game today, so both those teams are 4-3. Hood and Messiah are both 5-1. Their series starts tomorrow.
Eastern is at Albright tomorrow for a doubleheader that is scheduled to start at noon.
