Eagles End the Regular Season with Sweep at Milligan

Elizabethton, Tenn.  - The Eagles were coming off a tough weekend where they were not playing at their best. They had one more series to finish the regular season on a winning note and keep their place in the AAC standings. The AAC Tournament will start next week and the Eagles are in the second position as of now. If things hold as they are now, Reinhardt would finish in second place behind Tennessee Wesleyan in the number one slot. We will have more information on the AAC Baseball Tournament as it becomes available over the weekend.

In Game Two of the Milligan series, the Eagles held on for a close 3-2 win over the Buffaloes. The combination of Jordan Hampton, Andrew Herbert, and Jet Kern would get time on the mound for the Eagles in getting the win. Hampton would get the start and he would have 3 strikeouts and only allow 2 hits in his three innings of work. Hampton did give up the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning. Herbert come in to relieve Hampton and he would pitch a good game as well. His stats were almost identical to Hampton's where he would strike out 3 batters and allow two hits and one run while he was in the game. Herbert would get in four innings before being pulled after seven. Kern would come in at the bottom of the eighth to finish things up for the Eagles. In his two innings, Kern would have zeros across the board of his stats. He did not allow a hit, run, or walk while he was pitching and he finished up the game for the Eagles and picked up the win.

The Eagles' offense did not light the statistics up in this game, but they did what was necessary to get the win and help out the pitchers. Nick Sanders would lead the Eagles in hitting going 2 for 4 and picking up an RBI. Jacob Profit and Tucker Zdunich picked up the other two RBIs for the Eagles. Zdunich's RBI would come from a solo shot to right field in the top of the sixth. Profit's RBI would come in the fifth which was the first score for the Eagles and tied the game at, 1-1. Profit had a sac fly to right field which brought home Cedric Cullars. After the fifth and sixth innings, the Eagles would take a narrow 2-1 lead, however, it would not last long as Milligan would score in the bottom of the seventh. The Eagles take the lead in the top of the eighth inning when Sanders would get a single to center, and this would score Jarrett Burney. Burney had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning.  

In Game Three of the series, Ethan Foley would get the start and he would continue the magical run that he is having this season. He was able to pitch the complete seven innings in the game where he recorded 7 strikeouts and six shutout innings. The only run for the Buffaloes would come in the bottom of the first inning where he gave up a double and a single which scored the one run. Other than this, Foley was a magician keeping Milligan from being a threat at all the rest of the way.

The Eagles' offense would open up a little more in game three and with Foley on the mound, they just had to get a few runs in order to get the win. The game was tight most of the way with the score 1-1 going into the top of the seventh. This is when the Eagles would get three across the plate to secure the win and the series sweep. 

The first run for the Eagles would come in the top of the fourth inning when Shayne Campbell would get on base from a fielder's choice. Nick Sanders singled to center to move Campbell to third base. Dawson Johns would sac bunt which would bring home, Campbell. This would be the only run for the Eagles in fourth.

In the top of the seventh, the Eagles hitting opened up some and the Eagles were able to put multiple runs across the plate. The first run would come from a single by Tucker Zdunich which would score Jacob Profit. Next, Jarrett Burney would single which scored Cedric Cullars and moved Zdunich to third. For the final run of the game, Shayne Campbell would ground out to shortstop, however, the Eagles were able to get Zdunich across the plate before the final out was recorded. Kern would finish things up in the bottom of the seventh and the Eagles would get a solid 4-1 win.

Over the past six to eight weeks, the Eagles have been playing good baseball and they seem to be peaking at the right time. They have moved up the standings in the conference and they have also been recognized by the NAIA by moving back into the Top 25. Look for the Eagles to make a strong move in the AAC Tournament and set themselves up for a possible bid to the NAIA National Tournament. With this pitching staff having some time to get healthy, the Eagles should have strong pitching through the AAC.  We will have the AAC Tournament brackets posted as soon as it is available.