Boys of summer face tough competition, keep squeaking out some victories
The Eagles continue to squeak out one win in every weekend conference games.
On March 9th the College of Eastern Utah’s baseball team welcomed a tough conference opponent from Southern Nevada into Price.
The Community College of Southern Nevada was ranked 4th in the nation going into the series so the Eagles knew they would need to be ready to play.
In game one of the four game series with the CCSN Coyotes, the Eagles’ started off slow scoring just one run on six hits in a 5-1 loss.
This archived article was written by: Jordon Salmon
The Eagles continue to squeak out one win in every weekend conference games.
On March 9th the College of Eastern Utah’s baseball team welcomed a tough conference opponent from Southern Nevada into Price.
The Community College of Southern Nevada was ranked 4th in the nation going into the series so the Eagles knew they would need to be ready to play.
In game one of the four game series with the CCSN Coyotes, the Eagles’ started off slow scoring just one run on six hits in a 5-1 loss.
Cole Evans threw five innings for the Eagles and picked up the loss allowing just three-earned runs. Game two was another low scoring game, this time in favor of the Eagles as they shut down the Coyote bats winning the game 2-0.
Jason Madsen picked up the win, with Jake Bankowski getting the save. Joe Via had an RBI double scoring Brett Boyd in the fourth inning to get the first Eagle run, the second run was scored by a pair of walks and an error in the sixth to score Colby Read.
Game three, played on Saturday morning, was a different story as the Coyotes bounced back from the loss the night before and took it to the Eagles scoring 15 runs on 12 hits, making a final score of 15-2.
Game four of the series was much the same as the Eagles lost again to the Coyotes, this time by a score of 14-1, “They came to play, … .we didn’t,” commented Eagles pitcher Seth Spainhower as he described the weekend.
The following week the Eagles started a five-week conference road trip with their first stop in Twin Falls, Idaho to take on the CSI Golden Eagles.
The first game of the weekend was a close one that ended in favor of CSI, outscoring the Eagles 6-4. Mckay Bybee led all CEU bats going three for four, with Boyd adding a single and a double. Game two played on Friday was a battle for CEU as they came back from trailing CSI 7-2.
It started in the sixth inning when Marcus Hanley and Matt Park got on base with a pair of singles, Colby Read drove them both in with a double. The next batter for CEU was Boyd who hit a two-run home run to bring the game within one. In the seventh Pete Mirabile scored on a sacrifice fly by Bybee to tie the game. But CSI battled in extra innings to win the game in the eighth with a walk-off single to score the winning run.
In game three, CEU started off hot with an RBI double by Alex Rosenhan to score Bybee, followed by an RBI single by Via to take an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.
But that was all for CEU as CSI’s pitching blanked the Eagles after that to win the game 7-2. Game four was another close one that was won by CSI in the last inning by a score of 4-3.
Boyd went two for three in the game, with Tyler Nelson picking up two RBIs on a clutch double in the sixth inning.
Head Coach Scott Madsen commented after the series about the need to be able to put things together for an entire weekend. He felt the team played hard and battled the entire weekend; they just needed to battle from the start.
On Tuesday of the following week, the Eagles put on the spikes again and were ready to play Weber State in a non-conference double header. Game one ended in favor of the Eagles as they won 11-3. Fernando Martinez was the winning pitcher, giving up two runs in four innings.
Bybee and Boyd had a pair of singles while Rosenhan chipped in a pair of doubles as the Eagles out hit Weber 13-6. Game two was another victory for the Eagles, this time winning 4-1. Garret Rose was the winning pitcher for the Eagles going three and one third innings, giving up two hits and one run.
That same week CEU traveled to Carson City, Nev., to play the Western Nevada Wildcats. In the first three games, the Eagles were spanked by the Wildcats losing 11-3, 3-1 and 8-0. “Their team just put the ball in play and didn’t strike out a lot, we made to many errors and beat ourselves.” said outfielder Josh Barber.
This was definitely the case as the Eagles were out hit 24-12 in those three games while also committing nine errors. Game four was a different story as Bankowski had his first start this season.
He threw six strong innings for the Eagles giving Spainhower a chance to come in and close in the seventh inning. The final score was 4-2 for CEU. Nelson and Hanley each had two hits in the game for the Eagles.
The Eagles continue their road trip, as they will be gone for the next three weekends to Colorado, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. They will play their next home games on Friday, April 20.
