RU Baseball Sweep CIU to take the 2024 AAC Regular Season Title!
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Reinhardt (GA)
|
2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 1 |
|
CIU (SC)
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Reinhardt (GA)
|
0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 2 |
|
CIU (SC)
|
0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
Columbia, SC- Reinhardt Baseball accomplished something that they have not done in the program's history with the sweep of CIU in the AAC regular-season finale. The three-game sweep gave Coach Jonathan Burton and the Eagles the top spot in the AAC for the 2024 season. Reinhardt University Baseball is the 2024 Appalachian Athletic Conference CHAMPION!
The team beat CIU on the doubleheader day 15-4 in game one and then edged out the Rams 6-5 in the seven-inning finale. Andrew Herbert got the ball rolling on Thursday with his masterpiece on the mound for game one and Ben Medley, Brett Allen, and Hunter Paulsen continued the great pitching in the doubleheaders to get the series win for the Eagles and the conference regular season championship.
Game One
Ben Medley pitched one of his best games of the season in the second game of the CIU series going 6 innings and striking out 5 Rams. He did give up 4 runs with 3 runs coming in the sixth inning, but overall he had a good outing to help the Eagles take the season title. Brett Allen took over from there and pitched the final 3 innings of the game striking out 8 batters and giving up zero runs. Allen has established himself as one of the best pitchers on this squad and always answers when called up no matter the time or situation in the game.
Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEN MEDLEY (W, 5-4) | 6.0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| BRETT ALLEN | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 1 |
Offensively, the Eagles again did plenty to ease any pressure on the pitchers matching the run total from Thursday's game. They got multi-hit games from six in the starting lineup. Tucker Zdnuch, Dylan Lewis, and Lance Dockery all homered in the game to help the Eagles get the win. Zdunich's homer came in the first inning and it was a solo shot. Lewis had another solo shot in the fourth inning to put the Eagles up 6-1. The back-breaker for the Rams was the Grand Slam Home Run by centerfielder, Lance Dockery's 4 RBIs came on one swing of the bat that went over the right-center wall bringing in Jacob Profit, Jamel Rookard, and Parker Doyle.
Game Two
In game two, the Eagles already had the AAC regular season title clinched - but they wanted the sweep of the series to finish out the regular season. The first inning started out fine, but things started getting out of hand in the second inning when starter, Eli Clotfelter, gave up 5 runs. He was relieved by Hunter Paulsen who had one of his best outings in his Reinhardt Baseball career. The lefthander threw three and one-third innings striking out 7 batters and only allowed one hit. He kept the runs at zero after leaving the mound in the sixth inning.
Brock Weiss and Brett Allen came in to finish things up for Paulsen and both did sufficiently. Weiss pitched the final two outs in the sixth inning where he did not allow a hit or a run. Allen kept things rolling by throwing the final inning striking out one and keeping the Rams off the board. The offense did what they needed along the way to take the lead after the five runs were given up, but the pitching staff came in and made sure the series sweep would happen.
Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELI CLOTFELTER | 2.0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| HUNTER PAULSEN (W, 5-0) | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| BROCK WEISS | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| BRETT ALLEN (Sv, 6) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 7.0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
Offensively, the Eagles did just enough to come away with the series sweep. They needed to overcome the second-inning barrage of runs that the Rams put on the board. Lance Dockery kept his recent hot streak going by hitting another home run in the second inning scoring Jacob Profit. This would be the only homer of the game for the Eagles which is a rarity. The Eagles showed that they can score runs even if the ball isn't leaving the field. Besides the two runs Dockery knocked in with his homer, Reinhardt had to score by getting men on base followed by base hits.
Tucker Zdunich and catcher Dylan Martin led the Eagles in the game with Zdunich going 2 for 4 with an RBI and one run scored. Martin was able to go 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Jacob Profit also had a good game at the plate going for 2 for 3 as well with one run scored. One of Profit's hits was a triple. Jarett Burney joined Profit with a triple of his own. Zdunich and Marcerio Allen both had doubles in the game to round out the multi-base hit list for the Eagles.
Reinhardt tied the game in the fourth inning and then took the lead in the fifth inning. No runs were scored after this for either team and the game closed out in favor of the Eagles.
Reinhardt will enjoy one of their season goals of winning the 2024 regular season title, but they will soon focus on the next upcoming goal of winning the AAC Tournament. The AAC Tournament starts the week of April 29th and will go through May 4th in Kingsport, TN. The Eagles have already secured their spot in the NAIA Nationals, but they want to continue their brilliant season by winning the tournament as they head into the NAIA Playoffs. Also this week, the Eagles will find out if they are one of the host schools for the first round of the NAIA Playoffs.
Congratulations Coach Burton and the team on having a successful regular season and we look forward to see what this team can do in the upcoming playoffs.