Tough Night for the Eagles in Talladega Game

David Finney | photos by Holly Heath

Emmerson, GA - With all the rain that came through on Monday night, a scheduled home game for the Eagles was moved to LakePoint Sports Complex where the team would play Talladega on Tuesday evening. On paper, this is one that you could feel confident about, however, the games must be played and the players must perform. It would prove to be a tough night for the Eagles as some costly errors and good pitching by the Tornadoes would make it hard to pull out a win.

Jaily Paredes would get the starting job for the Eagles and he would only get in one inning of work. He was able to get three strikeouts in that one inning, however, Talladega was able to get four hits and a fielding error by the Eagles outfield allowed three runs to come home. Reinhardt would have five pitchers enter throuout the game and two of the bright spots were Carson Bennink and the lefty - Hunter Paulsen. Bennink pitched three innings and had five strikeouts allowing zero runs. Paulson came in at the end to pitch an inning and had one strikeout, no hits, and no runs. The top of the first and the top of the fifth would be the most damaging innings for Eagles and make it tough for them to come back as they would give up 4 runs in the first and 3 runs in the fifth.

In the bottom of the second, Jarrett Burney would get on base from a single to center. He would eventually score after he stole second base and then was hit home from a single hit by Nick Sanders. This would be Reinhardt's first run of the game, but they were climbing out of a hole from the start.

The bottom of the sixth would be where some life was happening with the Eagles' bats. Tucker Zdunich was able to get to third when the Talledega left fielder lost the ball in the lights and it dropped into play. By the time he found the ball, Zdunich was already coming into third base. Will Underwood drew a walk putting runners on first and third with Burney coming to the plate. Burney would hit a chopper between the first baseman and the pitcher which was fielded by the first baseman. He backhand tossed it to the pitcher who was able to tag Burney right at first base. Zdunich scored on the play and Underwood moved to second. Albert Mora came up to bat next and hit a single to center which would score Underwood. Mora would eventually find his way to third after a walk to Nick Sanders and a wild pitch by the Tornadoes. Alex Coulter would be called to pinch-hit for the leadoff spot and he would draw a walk and load up the bases. Later, a wild throw to third by the Tornadoe's catcher would zip down the leftfield line which would score Mora and move Coulter and Sanders to second and third. Unfortunately, the inning would stop there after a strikeout by the Eagles. At the bottom of the sixth, it was 9-4 Talladega.

The Eagles were able to get one more run in the seventh when Burney hit a deep Sac Fly to center which scored Xavier Arnette. Burney and Arnette both had really good nights hitting with Burney going 2 for 4 scoring a run and Arnette going 2 for 5 scoring a run. Tucker Zdunich and Albert Mora both went 2 for 3 hitting and each scoring a run.

Talladega's pitching came in and finished off the last two innings not allowing another run. There was a threat on the bottom of the ninth for the Eagles when Burney singled and Mora and Sanders both drew walks to load up the bases. With two outs, the Eagles needed a good swing to get those runs home, but it was not to be. The game ended on a looking strikeout, 9-5 Talladega.

The Eagles will have a few days off from games before getting their weekend series going with conference opponent, Point University. Look for the Eagles to rebound from this loss and get the bats swinging again through the weekend. They will be at Point for one game Friday and the doubleheader on Saturday. The weather is starting to warm up so come out and see some great college baseball once the Eagles are back in town playing.