Eagles Sweep the Knights with Big Numbers at the Plate

photo by CJ Carithers

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Baseball had a good weekend of baseball in the AAC three-game series.  Friday's game ended with a game-winning three-run homer in the seventh inning, but Dylan Lewis and they almost repeated the same thing in game two of the series.  Lance Dockery was the batter this time and it was a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to end the game early with a score of 12-1.  In game three, the Eagles had a shutout win, 7-0, to finalize the sweep and move their AAC record to 5-1 and 8-7 overall.  Just like the game Friday, the Eagles got good pitching and backed it up with plenty of runs to secure both wins.

Game One of Doubleheader

In game one, Jarrett Burney took over Dylan Lewis' spot as the hot bat as he went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. One of his runs was a solo home run in the fourth inning. Also hitting home runs in this game were Dylan Lewis, Parker Doyle, and the game-ending homer by Dockery.

Lewis was 2 for 4 in the game with an RBI (solo homerun) and two runs scored. Luiz Mendoza was 3 for 4 in the game with an RBI. After the first two innings of scoreless baseball by both teams, each team got a run in the third inning.  From that point on, the Eagles were able to put points on the board in every inning three through eight. Just as Friday's game went, the Eagles found their rhythm and found ways to score runs.

The pitching for the Eagles was excellent again with the team of Andrew Herbert, Hunter Paulsen, and Cobey Allision getting time on the mound. Herbert and Paulsen were the stories for game one of the doubleheader. This was Herbert's first game back since having to sit out the last few weeks of the 2023 season with an injury.  He did a great job striking out 3 Knights and only allowing two hits and one run. Paulsen came in to relieve Herbert in the fourth inning and he was able to get in 4.1 innings before letting Cobey Allison finish things up in the game. Paulsen was outstanding just like Blake Rogers was in game one of the series on Friday. Paulsen struck out five batters and only allowed 4 hits over the 4.1 innings. He did not allow a run in those innings.  Allison faced the final two batters and stuck out one of them and did not give up a hit or run to wrap up the Eagles' win!

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

Game Two of Doubleheader

Game two was all Eagles as they scored five runs in the first indicating they were ready to sweep the conference series. Tucker Zdunich had a three-run shot in the first inning to open the game up and the team never looked back. The other runs in the first came from RBIs from Luis Mendoza and Dockery who scored Adrian Vargas and Jerrett Burney.

The Eagles added single runs in both the second and fourth innings by way of the bat of Adrian Vargas.  Both runs scored Parker Doyle giving Doyle 3 runs scored in the game.

Pitching was the story in the final game of the series as Reinhardt would go through four arms before getting the shutout. Alex Galvez got the start in the final game and had 4 solid innings striking out 5 Knights and giving up just 4 hits and no runs scored.  It would take just small innings by the final three pitchers to end the game.

Ben Medley - who had a good series last weekend at Truitt McConnell - had another good inning of work where he did not allow a hit or run to score relieving Galvez in the top of the fifth. Allison pitched again in the final game of the series where he faced one batter and allowed a hit and a walk.

Brett Allen came in the bottom of the sixth inning and finished out the game for the Eagles. He pitched 1.2 innings not allowing a hit or run.  Galvez received the win for the 7-0 shutout game.

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

The Eagles will have a tough section of games coming up. They will travel to Point on Tuesday for the midweek game and then an important AAC series against Tennessee Wesleyan on Friday & Saturday.  Tennessee Wesleyan is currently ranked #6 in the NAIA rankings and the Eagles are sitting at #23.