Baseball opens with wins in snow

Eastern's baseball team opened the 2008 season by going undefeated in their three games in the Early Bird Tournament held at Turkey Hughes Field against Bucknell and Toledo.Eastern opened play with a marathon game against Bucknell Saturday.

The Colonels and the Bison played to a 7-7 tie during a 14-inning game that lasted more than four hours and was eventually called due to darkness.

The Colonels trailed several times during the game but were always able to come up with a clutch hit to get back in the game. Eastern trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the eigth inning before taking advantage of poor defense by Bucknell.

Eastern loaded the bases with no outs before junior second baseman Matt Davis scored on an error to cut the Bucknell lead to 4-3. Senior first baseman Clint Seymour followed with an RBI single to tie the game and eventually force extra innings.

An error by senior shortstop Tyler Barnett with a runner on third allowed Bucknell to take a 5-4 lead in the top of the 11th inning. Barnett quickly made up for the miscue by leading off the bottom of the inning and eventually scoring on a two-out single by junior right fielder Dylan McMaine to tie the score once again at 5-5.

"I consider myself a leader on this team," Barnett said. "And I didn't want to be the guy that cost us the win in our first game of the season."

Barnett was not finished with his late-inning heroics.

After two Bison runs in the top of the 13th inning gave Bucknell a 7-5 lead, Barnett once again led off the bottom of the inning with a base hit. A double by Davis put runners at second and third with no one out. Sophomore third baseman Anthony Ottrando came through with a base hit to tie the game at 7-7.

The teams played a scoreless 14th inning before the game was called.

Head Coach Elvis Dominguez was pleased with his team's effort in the freezing temperatures.

"I'm really, really glad to see the way our guys battled back," Dominguez said. "Because a year ago, I'm not sure we come back to win some of these games."

Senior closer McKenzie Willoughby pitched the final four innings of the game, giving up only one earned run.

Eastern came back Sunday morning with a 3-2 win against Bucknell in a game that was called after seven innings due to snow.

Solid pitching and some two-out magic paved the way for a Colonel victory.

Sophomore right-hander Colby Brown pitched four scoreless, no-hit innings while the Colonels took a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth.

However, freshman Patrick Cooper walked two Bucknell batters before giving up a two-run single to put the Bison on top 2-1.

"Walks are the only thing there is no defense for," Dominguez said. "I was disappointed with all the walks because it's just a matter of throwing the ball over the plate."

After the Colonels tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single from Barnett, Brown settled down and retired the Bison hitters in order in the top of the sixth.

After the first two Colonel hitters were retired in the sixth inning, Seymour reached base after being hit by a pitch and scored on freshman third baseman Ryan Langfels' double down the first-base line to give Eastern the 3-2 victory.

Eastern won it's second game in a row Monday to end the tournament by defeating Toledo 8-6.

For the third consecutive game, the Colonels were able to rally after trailing during the early innings. Toledo roughed up Eastern's starting pitcher Chris Grider early in the game. Grider gave up five earned runs in just two innings of work.

However, senior Michael Mulholland stifled the Rockets' offense. The left-hander, who missed 2007 due to injury, pitched four scoreless innings and tallied five strikeouts while on the mound.

"I really hit my spots well today and was able to keep them off balance," Mulholland said. Adding that his arm felt fine after his first outing since 2006.

A four-run Colonel rally in the fourth inning cut Toledo's lead to one at 5-4.

The Colonels hitters came up big once again in the sixth inning after their first two hitters were retired. Langels drew a two-out walk and Seymour followed with a base hit before junior Tyler Rehmel's double to center field gave the Colonels a 6-5 lead they would not lose.

Toledo threatened in the eighth inning, loading the bases on three consecutive walks from sophomore Jim Clancy. Freshman Michael Martinez relieved Clancy and forced the first batter he faced to ground into a double play.

Willoughby then struck out two of the four batters he faced in the ninth inning to preserve Eastern's victory.

Mulholland picked up the win for the Colonels after pitching four scoreless innings in relief.

The Colonels will be back in action this weekend for a three-game series against Bradley. The teams will play a double-header Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.