Eagles Start Off Weekend Series with Win

David Finney | photo by Elisabeth Dunlap

Columbia, SC - The Eagles are on the road again this weekend with a series with the Rams of Columbia International. Reinhardt is coming off a weekend series with Point University where the Eagles were able to get back on the winning track winning the final game 5-0. This is definitely a series that Reinhardt can make some ground as the Rams are winless in conference play at 0-7 and have a 7-15 overall record. The Eagles have had their struggles as of late after having a pretty good start to the season, however, many of their wounds have been self-inflicted with costly errors and one or two bad pitches in games that would cost them. A little cleanup in those departments and the Eagles have a talented squad that can make a lot of noise in the AAC.

Reinhardt's Ace, Pablo Barquero, would get the start in this game for Coach Burton and have another stellar game. He was able to pitch through six innings getting solid numbers for the Eagles. Over the six innings, he had 8 strikeouts and only give up six hits with 3 runs scored.  The three runs were spread over three innings and it was never really a threat to Reinhardt, however, one run was a home run in the sixth. Jacob Hampton would come in to close out the game for the Eagles at the end of the sixth inning and into the seventh. Barquero is 5-0 on the season and Hampton got his first save of the season. It was a tremendous effort on the mound by both and it started the series off in the right direction for the Eagles!

Reinhardt would do most of their damage in the run department later in the innings. Both teams would score runs in the first inning. The Eagles' run would come on a home run from Tucker Zdunich who has become the power guy and always comes up with the clutch hit when the team needs it. In this game, Zdunich would only have one hit - BUT that one hit was a home run to start the team off the scoring.

The Eagles would then score in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth innings. The fifth inning run would actually tie the game at two and it would come off a manufactured run. Nick Sanders would lead off the inning with a base hit. Next, Alex Coulter would lay down a bunt which moved Sanders to second and he was safe at first. Jacob Profit, who had been on the injury list since being injured on a sliding play in the Southeast Rumble Tournament,  grounded out to third base but was able to advance both runners. Albert Mora would come up next and hit a sac fly to center field which scored Sanders.

In the Sixth inning, Patrick Baggett would reach on an error by the Rams shortstop. Shayne Campbell would then hit a double which scored Baggett from first. Campbell would get stranded on base as the next two batters for the Eagles would fly out and strike out ending the inning. The game was all tied at three after the sixth inning.

The seventh inning would be the one multi-run innings for the Eagles. Coulter would single to center followed by a single by Profit who singled off of a bunt. Mora then singled which scored Coulter and put Profit on second. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance on the bases and that was followed by another wild throw which scored Profit and put Mora on third. Unfortunately, Mora would not be able to get home following this, however, the Eagles would have a 5-3 lead at this point with only the eighth and ninth innings to go.

Reinhardt was able to get one more run in the top of the ninth giving them a little more security for the bottom of the inning. Coulter would come up big again with a lead-off triple. Profit would follow him with a sac fly to right field which scored Coulter. This would be the final run of the game and Hampton would finish off CIU in the bottom of the ninth. There was one hit and one walk in the bottom of the ninth, however, Hampton had it under control and the Eagles would walk away with the win.

Alex Coulter would prove to be the star of this game hitting 3 for 4 and scoring two runs, however, it was a good team win and started the weekend off right. Shayne Campbell and Lance Dockery would both go 2 for 4 on the game as well to help the Eagles. 

The teams will face each other on Saturday afternoon for the final two games of the series. The first game is at 1 pm and the second game will be immediately following. Both games can be seen on CIU's YouTube channel which is provided in the link on the game schedule.