Baseball Splits With Cumberland (Tenn.) Friday at Home
By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
WALESKA, Ga. – Ken White Baseball Field hosted the season-opening doubleheader for Reinhardt on Friday evening, as both the 17th-ranked Eagles and Phoenix of Cumberland (Tenn.) earned 7-4 and 7-6 victories, respectively.
"Hard-fought split today for our team, and I am very excited to be on the field again with this group," head coach Jonathan Burton said. "We did a lot of good things today, and I know we split, but we fought all day. That is a good baseball team we played tonight; they will do well this year. These types of games are tough to lose, but we came within a great diving play by their center fielder in the bottom of the seventh from winning two games today.
"We still have a chance to win a series and that's always the goal."
Game 1: W, 7-4
- Reinhardt was outhit, 11-3, but did major damage in the fourth inning – five runs – highlighted by a 3-run homer with two strikes off the bat of Albert Mora to open the scoring.
- Nick Sanders would then give the Eagles a 5-0 advantage later in the inning on a 2-run double.
- Andres Ugarte roped an RBI-double in the eighth for the only other base hit for the hometown club in the opener.
- On the bases, the hosts stole three times.
- Daniel Dolensky got the start and the victory from the mound after five innings of work and six strikeouts.
Game 2: L, 7-6
- The offense on both sides got going early and often in the second matchup, on that saw Reinhardt pull ahead, 2-0, after one inning of play compliments of a wild pitch and a single.
- The advantage moved to 4-1 after another 2-run double from Nick Sanders.
- The Phoenix would respond with runs in five-consecutive frames – including a three-spot in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead – on an RBI-single that was misplayed in center field that scored two more runners.
- A lead-off homer by the Phoenix would move the score to 7-5 and set up a dramatic finish as they tried to pull even in the series.
- Albert Mora was robbed in the bottom of the seventh of what would-have-been the tying RBIs after a spectacular sliding play prevented at least a double. A two-out miscue helped the Eagles stay alive and get within one tally, but Keven Jimenez struck out swinging to end the game.
- Sanders, Alvaro Valdez and Jarrett Burney all collected two hits in defeat.
The two teams finish the series tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. with the hopes of beating the rain scheduled to be in the area on Saturday.
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