CHESTER, Pa. —
Brennan Moloughney pitched seven scoreless innings and the Eastern bats came to life in a critical 12-1 road win at Widener. Moloughney's fifth win of the year and some help from Albright put the Eagles in control of their own destiny in the MAC Commonwealth tournament hunt. The Eagles can secure a spot with two wins over the Pride on Sunday.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. As he has done all year,
Trent MacDougall got things going. Eastern's veteran center fielder doubled to left and came home on a
Luke Meehan single. With a 2-for-5 day, MacDougall now has 51 hits and a program-record 46 runs. After a
David Garrido double put two runners in scoring position,
JJ Matos singled up the middle for two of his five RBI on the afternoon. Including a two-run home run int he eighth, Eastern's sophomore catcher had four hits.
Trevero Harris scored on a MacDougall single in the second, and Moloughney continued to fill up the zone. The junior lefty allowed single baserunners in each of the first three innings but was in command with the four-run lead.
In the top of the fifth, the Eagles gained separation as Meehan scored on a wild pitch and Garrido scored on a Matos single. Harris then created a run with a hit by pitch and a couple steals and an error in the sixth.
Justin Rodriguez,
Ryan Alfonso and
Justin DiCesare each had two-out RBI's in the seventh.
After the stretch, Moloughney worked around a leadoff error and a hit with a double play and a fly ball to right to finish his seven innings without allowing a run.
Landen Lewis worked a scoreless eighth and
Blake Weinstein finished the game.
The Eagles (25-13, 9-10) need to finish in front of Hood or York to make the tournament. Scheduled rain tomorrow makes everything more complicated. Hood lost both games of the doubleheader at Albright and is now 9-11 in the league. Because they won two-of-three from the Eagles early on, they would hold the tiebreaker. The Blazers will host Albright on Sunday afternoon. Should Albright win that game, the Eagles would need to win just once. If the Eagles were to sweep, they would finish third if York loses at Stevenson tomorrow (or whenever they actually play that game).
With his five wins this season, Moloughney moves into a tie for second in single-season wins.
The series will continue with two games on Sunday. First pitch is slated for noon.
