Crushing Colorado Northwestern, Golden Eagle baseball hits off season with a 4-2 record

This archived article was written by: Jordan Salmon

The 2007 Golden Eagles baseball season is underway with a 24-man roster including 11 returning sophomores, 13 freshmen and six red shirts. The Eagles will play 48-season games before the region tournament on May 3-5. Eight of the games are non-conference including the season opener in Las Vegas where the Eagles played four games in the Vegas Tournament.
Coach Scott Madsen is excited with how the games went in Las Vegas, saying, “we improved every game.” The first game pitted CEU against the South Mountain Cougars from Phoenix, Ari. Marcus Hamatake started the game on the mound for the Eagles and had three strikeouts and gave up two-earned runs in three innings. But South Mountain took advantage of four Eagle errors to walk away with an easy 10–1 victory. Alex Rosenhan led all Eagle bats going two for three with a double.
The Eagles played their second of four games against the Santa Ana Dons from California. Cole Evans was the starting Eagle pitcher, throwing five innings and giving up five runs to the Dons. Santa Ana starting pitcher Daniel Fenwick took over the game in complete control. Silencing the Eagle bats, he threw a complete game shut out, with the final score 8-0. Colby Read had two of just five Eagle hits in the game.
The third game for the Eagles was against the Cypress Chargers of California. The Eagles started the game with the first run as Alex Rosenhan hit a single to score Read. The following inning the Chargers answered, scoring four runs on three hits, then added five runs in the third. Then four more runs in the sixth inning were all the Chargers needed to win the game with a final 13-6 score. Eagles outfielder Jared Fronk went three for five with a single, double and a homerun.
Game four of the tournament ended with better results for the Eagles as they defeated Texas El Paso Community College 4-2. Jayson Madson pitched eight-strong innings for the Eagles giving up one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
The Eagles’ big lefty, Jake Bankowski came into the game in the ninth inning to close the game and pick up his first save of the season. The Eagle’s bats came alive with ten hits. Bret Boyd led the way with three hits and Josh Barber added two. After the game, pitcher Jayson Madson said, “We were able to put all the aspects of baseball together for a whole game. Pitching, hitting and defense, it all came together and it showed what kind of team we can be.”
The following week CEU baseball opened conference play with a four-game home series against Colorado Northwestern on February 23-24. Evans started game one and picked up the win as the Eagles defeated Colorado 9-4. Read, Rosenhan and Fronk all had a pair of hits, while Stephen Torres and Marcus Hanley each chipped in with doubles.
Game two of the Friday double header ended the same way for the Eagles as they again defeated Colorado, this time with a score of 7-1. Jayson Madson pitched all seven for the Eagles picking up his second win of the season, striking out five and giving up two hits. Rosenhan again led the Eagle bats going three for four while Fronk added a pair of hits, with Tyler Nelson adding a home run.
In the Saturday morning game, the Eagles picked up where they had left off the night before, scoring 11 runs on 10 hits on route to an 11-4 victory. Seth Spainhower picked up the win with Bankowski closing the game and earning his second save. Boyd, Fronk and McKay Bybee all had a pair of hits with Nelson adding a triple.
Momentum shifted though in game two on Saturday as Colorado scored two quick runs in the first inning and two more runs in the fifth. With Colorado silencing the Eagle bats for six-straight innings, they went into the seventh and final inning trailing 4-0. With a couple of pinch hitters entering the game in the seventh for the Eagles, they were ready to start a miraculous come back and truly show what they were made of. Rosenhan led the inning with a double with Hanley walking. Barber hit a single scoring Rosenhan with Boyd hitting a double, scoring two more runs. A single by Joe Via, sac fly by Nelson and two more singles by Fronk and Josh Ray completed the come back victory with the Eagles winning 5-4. Rosenhan summed up the weekend, “usually throughout a season a team is tested in various different ways, and in the Colorado series we encountered all of them and were able to find ways to overcome them.”
This last weekend the Eagles were again at home as they played Salt Lake Community College Bruins. The Eagles suffered two straight losses on Friday losing 11-4 and 5-1. Coach Madsen said “We started off really bad then improved towards the end of the series.” This was true as the Eagles split both games on Saturday, losing the first 5-2 then winning the second game 6-5.
In game two for the Eagles on Saturday, Hamatake picked up the win with Bankowski again closing the game in perfect style picking up his league leading third save. “We came out with a lot more intensity and a lot more passion then we did in the first three games,” stated Eagle’s closer Bankowski. Boyd had three RBIs for the Eagles as he went three for three with a walk. Jens Wilson added a triple while Read added a double as part of the Eagles seven hits.
Assistant Coach Frank Ori talks about this past weekend, “In the first three games, our hitters’ approach to the plate was less aggressive than it should be. By the fourth game they had it figured out. I am extremely proud of our pitching staff this season. For the most part they have come mentally prepared and ready to play at every game.”
After the weekend, the Eagles are 5-3 in conference play, putting them in third place behind Southern Nevada Community College and Salt Lake Community College. The Eagles continue season play this coming weekend on March 9-10 against No.-one Southern Nevada. The games start at 1 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday in Price.