Pablo Barquero Does it Again!

David Finney

Waleska, GA - Just one week ago, Pablo Barquero pitched a masterpiece game against Bluefield getting a complete game shutout. He was awarded the Pitcher of the Week by the Appalachian Athletic Conference for his work on the mound last Friday.  Fast-forward one week and he was back at it with more success for the Eagles.

The story of the night was Barquero and his ability to control the Cavalier batters. He only had 4 strikeouts in the game, but his efficiency was amazing.  He does not necessarily have to get large numbers of strikeouts to be successful. He puts the ball across the plate where the batters have to hit it and when they do - it pops straight up for easy outs or they ground out to the infield. It usually just takes a couple of pitches and the batter makes contact popping or grounding out. The low pitch count that Barquero maintains allows for him to go deeper in the games - most of the time complete games. 

Just like last Friday afternoon, the batters for the Eagles did what they needed to do to secure the win. It would be nice to give Barquero a little more cushion to work with, however, getting the two runs in this game was just enough. The pitching for the Cavaliers was very good tonight as well and it took a while for the Eagles to make their mark on the game, but they finally did in the sixth inning. Albert Mora would get a double and then a few spots later, Jarrett Burney would get a single to left field which would score Mora. This would give the Eagles the narrow one-run lead, 1-0.

In the seventh inning, the Eagles would get the winning run across the plate. This scoring play involved a double as well - in fact, two doubles.  Tucker Zdunich would get a double as the second batter of the inning. Shayne Campbell would follow Zdunich with a double of his own and this would get Zdunich across the plate putting the Eagles up 2-0.  This would be all the Eagles needed to do with Pablo Barquero doing his thing on the mound. Reinhardt really does need to work on getting Barquero a little more support, but sometimes just getting one run can be enough. The Eagles did give up one run on an error which was unearned, however, it did not end up hurting them as they get the win, 2-1.

The Eagles have extended their conference record to 12-4 with the final month of the regular season starting. They will have another chance to pick up two more wins tomorrow as they finish out the series with Montreat. Next, the Eagles will be on the road for a midweek game with Georgia State. This will be an exhibition game only, but still, one that the Eagles will want to compete to see how they stand against an NCAA Division One opponent.