Eagles Split in 'Rain-Shortened' Doubleheader

David Finney | photo by Angel Cornista

Waleska, GA - The weather has been causing headaches for all the outdoor sports this week with delays and cancelations, but Eagles Baseball was able to squeeze in a doubleheader on Tuesday morning & early afternoon. William Carey was in for a one-day (originally two-day) series with the Eagles for a midweek out-of-conference game. There was a small window of opportunity to get the games in before the skies opened up once more and the Eagles took advantage of it.  Because of the weather, both games were shortened to seven innings instead of nine.

GAME ONE

In game one, Jordan Hampton would get the starting job on the mound and would almost get in all seven innings. He was relieved by Carson Bennink for the final two outs of the game. Hampton would have 4 strikeouts in his 6.1 innings and hold the Crusaders scoreless. He held them to just four hits over those innings. Bennink came in during the top of the seventh with one out and finished up the game. Bennink struck out two and picked up the save for the Eagles as they would win 4-0.

Tucker Zdunich would be the power for the Eagles in this one as he knocked his first at-bat over the right-field wall. Jacob Profit was on base from a previous walk and this put the Eagles up 2-0, but the inning wasn't over. Shayne Campbell would draw a walk after Zdunich's home run and he would be followed by Jarrett Burney. Burney would get a triple on hit to deep center, which brought home, Campbell.  At the end of one, it was 3-0 Eagles.

In the second inning, Nick Sanders would get a single to right field. Jacob Profit was able to bunt Sanders over to second and he beat out the throw to first putting a guy on first and second. With two outs, Zdunich came up big again with a hit to center field. This would bring in Sanders for Zdunich's third RBI of the game and the lead would be extended to 4-0 Eagles. 

That would be all that Reinhardt would need in this one as Hampton and Bennink would take care of shutting down the bats of William Carey. It was a solid game by the Eagles as they got great pitching and the bats did enough to get the win. In addition, the Eagles did not commit an error in this game which has been an issue lately.

GAME TWO

In game two, the scheduled seven-inning game would get cut a little more because of the weather. A majority of the game was fine, but around the sixth inning the rain started coming down and after a brief pause in action the game was decided to be called. At the time, William Carey was up 2-0 on the Eagles, however, they still had two at-bats that they did not get in this one. 

Jacob Profit would go 2 for 3 in the lead-off spot and was the one player that was able to get multiple hits against William Carey's pitching. The pitcher for the Crusaders had a really good game and held the Eagles to just four hits total and they were not able to score any runs through the five innings. Quality pitching by the Crusaders along with the Eagles stranding men on base was the difference in this one.

Hunter Paulsen, the young left-hander from Acworth, would get the start in the second game, but he would not have his best game. He made it through two innings after getting roughed up a little - yet he only gave up two runs. Paulsen would strike out two batters in the two innings and four hits. AJ Jarrell would come in at the top of the third to relieve Paulsen and he would pitch two innings as well. Jarrell would only give up two hits in his two innings and zero runs. Jet Kern would pitch the final inning in this rain-shortened game and strike out one batter. 

This will be one that you think the Eagles would have been able to score if they had a chance in those final two innings - but we will never know.  They had several chances to score earlier in the game and the bats just did not come through in the second game. Reinhardt will face St. Andrews this weekend, however, the game day/time has yet to be determined because of the cold and rain that is coming in this week. Please check the baseball schedule on the website for more details on the reschedule. The games will possibly be pushed back to Sunday/Monday instead of Friday/Saturday.