Eagles Take Two from #6 TN Wesleyan

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Eagles Baseball are playing really good baseball right now moving their conference record to 7-1 after winning two on Saturday to AAC rival, Tennessee Wesleyan.  The Eagles took game one 9 to 7 and finished out the seven-inning second game with the score of 7-5.  Reinhardt has won 8 of its last 9 games and has strung together 8 wins in a row.

Game One

Blake Rogers got the start in game one and pick right up where he left off at his last outing on the mound. He pitched 4 solid innings and did not allow a run and only gave up 2 hits.  He struck out 4 Bulldogs.  He was relieved by Eli Clotfelter in the fifth inning, but he ran into immediate trouble giving up 4 runs in his inning of work. Cobey Allison came in to relieve Clotfelter, but he had issues as well keeping the runs off the board.  The good thing is that the bats were very hot in game one and kept the Eagles in the game the entire time. Brett Allen came at the start of the 8th inning and pitched a great two innings keeping the Bulldogs off the board when they were attempting a comeback.  Allen shut it down quickly recording a strikeout and only giving up two hits. He picked up the save for his efforts in game one.

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

 Nash Crowell got his bat going in game one after having a cooled-off period in the last few games. He was 1 for 4 in the game, but the one hit was big.  Crowell cranked a fifth-inning homer that scored Adrian Vargas and Tucker Zdunich. These were all the runs the Eagles needed, but they did get Marcerio Allen across the plate in the bottom of the 8th, which gave the Eagles the two-run advantage.

Also hitting well in game one was Jacob Profit in the lead-off spot and Vargas in the cleanup role. Proft went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and a double. Vargas also had a double and went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.  Zdunich joined Vargas and Profit with a double of his own, scored two runs, and had 2 RBIs. Luis Mendoza was 2 for 3 in the game with 2 RBIs.

Game Two

Andrew Herbert got his second start of the season after returning from a year-long injury recovery.  He is still building up his strength for more innings, but he had another good outing going three innings of the seven-inning contest. Herbert and the pitching crew of Hunter Paulsen and Brett Allen would keep the Bulldogs numbers limited.  The trio had 8 strikeouts total with Herbert and Allen each having 3 strikeouts each.  They scattered 10 hits over the seven innings and kept Tennessee Wesleyan to just five runs, which was just fine with the way the offense is churning out runs right now.  Brett Allen was a highlight again coming in again in the closer role to keep the Bulldogs from getting runs, In both games on Saturday, Allen showed that he can keep one of the best teams in the NAIA off the board.

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

 Offensively in game two, the heart of the Eagles lineup got heated up and put the Eagles out front early.  Tucker Zdunich was at the top going 3 for 3 with a home run in the fifth inning which scored Jacob Profit. Zdunich shot got out of the park quickly over the rightfield wall and set the tone for Nash Crowell who as a couple of spots down the order.  Adrain Vargas got on base in front of Crowell and then Crowell hit a moon shot that made its way deep over the leftfield wall. Reinhardt was down one run at the time and the four-run inning had the Eagles up 7-4.  The Bulldogs added one more run in the sixth inning, but Allen made sure no more would cross home plate giving the Eagles the two-point win.  Both Zdunich and Crowell had doubled as well in the game.

Another highlight offensively for the Eagles was Lance Dockery's triple in the fourth that scored Jarret Burney.  Dockery was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.  Burney reached base on a double.

The Eagles will play again on Sunday at 2 pm for the final game of the series with Tennessee Wesleyan.  They have a busy week of baseball ahead of them as well with a game Monday at 3 pm St. Francis (IL) and another game Tuesday with Brewton Parker again at 3 pm.  They will end the week on the road at Milligan for the normal conference three-game series.