Eagles Sweep CIU in South Carolina Series

David Finney | photo by Angel Cornista

Columbia, SC - The Eagles were able to pull out a win on Friday setting themselves up for a series sweep if they could take care of business in the doubleheader on Saturday while visiting Columbia International (CIU). Winning three straight against a team in a two-day series is not an easy task even if you are the better team on paper. The Eagles had their work cut out for them and the Rams of CIU were not going to lay down for them.

Game One of Doubleheader (2nd Game of Series)

Ethan Foley would get the starting job for the middle game of the series and it turns out he would be the story of the series as he would pitch a complete game and record a SCHOOL RECORD - 15 STRIKEOUTS! It was an unbelievable outing from the right-hander from Waleska he would have a no-hitter going through the fifth inning and shut out the Rams from scoring in eight innings.

The Eagles would score a run in the first inning when Tucker Zdunich would get on base from a walk and Shayne Campbell would get a double which scored Zdunich. In the third, Nick Sanders would lead off with a triple and later get home from Albert Mora's double to center field. In the fourth, Lance Dockery was hit by a pitch and was later moved to third when Alex Coulter doubled to center. Nick Sanders grounded out, however, Dockery was able to score on the play. The Eagles would lead 3-0 after five innings and Foley was in a zone on the mound.

The sixth inning would be the one inning that the Eagles might like to replay as they had an error that extended the inning for the Rams. The Eagles should have made it through the inning only giving up one run, but they did allow four total in the sixth which temporarily gave CIU a 4-3 lead. As good as Foley had pitched, the Eagles were now down, but they hung in there and refused to give up and ruin a gem pitching performance by Foley.

The Eagles got it going again in the eighth inning as Albert Mora would lead off with a triple, which was followed by a double by Zdunich. The double brought home Mora and tied the game at 4-4. Shayne Campbell would then reach base by a throwing error by the Rams which landed him at second. Will Underwood would pinch run for Campbell and next, Alvaro Valdez would draw a walk putting a man at first and second. Cue in Lance Dockery who would smash the ball out of the park getting 3 RBIs and extending the lead to 7-4 Eagles.

Reinhardt would pick up one more run in the top of the ninth as Jarrett Burney and Mora would both single to center. Zdunich would put the ball in play for a fielder's choice allowing Burney to score bringing the score to 8-4. Foley was still in his groove and was able to strike out three batters in the bottom of the ninth and secure the second game win for the Eagles.

Game Two of Doubleheader (3rd Game of Series)

The previous game would be hard to match, but the Eagles needed to focus and complete the series sweep against the Rams. Parker Miller would get the starting job on the mound for Reinhardt and he would get in four innings before being relieved by Andrew Herbert. Miller would have 3 strikeouts and only give up four hits and one earned run in his innings of work. Herbert would come into pitch the fifth and sixth innings for the Eagles and only give up one hit and didn't allow a run.  The combination of Miller and Herbert was too much for the Rams and the Eagles would do all their damage at the plate in the third inning.

The third inning had a little bit of everything going on for the Eagles.  The first three batters were able to get singles. Alex Coulter would lead off with a single and was moved to second on a bunt single by Nick Sanders. This was followed by another bunt single by Jacob Profit which loaded the bases. This spotlighted power man - Albert Mora, but it would not play out as you would think. Mora was hit by a pitch and this scored Coulter. Next, Patrick Baggett singled to right field which moved all the bases up one and scored Sanders. Then, the play of the game happened with the bases loaded. Shayne Campbell stepped to the plate and crushed a grand slam homer bringing in Profit, Mora, and Baggett. The Eagles were rolling in the third inning.

The third inning was a game-crushing blow for the Rams because Miller and Herbert did their things shutting down the batters for CIU. In the bottom of the seventh, Coach Burton would call on the young left-hander, Hunter Paulsen, to come in and finish off the Rams. Paulsen would strike out the first batter, then have the next batter fly out to center. The final out for Paulsen and the Eagles would be a swinging strikeout and Paulsen would pick up the save for the Eagles. The final would be 6-3 which matched the score from Friday afternoon's game and gave the Eagles the huge series sweep!

The Eagles will have a busy week all at home this week. Tuesday will be a doubleheader with William Carey at 12 pm and then Cumberland at 4 pm. On Wednesday, there will be one game with William Carey again at 1 pm. The weekend series will be with St. Andrews with one game on Friday and the traditional doubleheader on Saturday.