Eagles’ baseball goes 0-4 versus SLCC

This archived article was written by: Riley Spears

Trying to start the season off on a positive note the College of Eastern Utah baseball team traveled to Salt Lake Community College to face the unbeaten Bruins. The Eagles went into the weekend with a 5-14 win/loss record, 3-1 record in conference play.
In the first game against SLCC the Eagles started off the game with a single by Josh Sturges but was not able to score with the next three batters getting out. The pitching for CEU started off good when Fernando Martinez sat down the first two batters but gave up one run.
In the third inning the Eagles managed to get two hits but stranded runners on first and third, missing a big opportunity to score.
Going into the fourth inning the score was SLCC 1 ,CEU 0 but then the Bruins took over. Martinez struggled to find the strike zone and walked six batters and gave SLCC the chance to take over the game and they did just that by putting seven runs on the board that inning.
The Eagles added one run in the seventh with a RBI by Stephen Torres bringing in Bryson Griffin. The game ended in a 1-9 loss for the Eagles. They missed plenty of oppertinities but left a combined 11 runners on base.
CEU out hit the Briuns but were unable to convert hits into runs. One bright spot for the Eagles was Trever Thomson who went 3-3 on the game with three singles. The pitchers for EU were Martinez who gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings and Dominic Lyman who gave up one run in 2 2/3 innings. The game ended in a 9-1 win for SLCC.
In game two against the Bruins, the Eagles sent out Riley Gordon. Both teams came out struggling to hit the ball and Gordon took advantage of it compiling eight k’s in the game only giving up six hits in 7 1/3 innings, a very solid performance. EU could not get the bats going, connecting for five hits and one run with a RBI from Thomson bringing in Nigel Morton.
The Bruins didn’t do much better with Gordon on the hill. Stringing some hits together in the eighth, SLCC put one run on the board. After that run scored, Coach Scott Madson sent out Garret Steele to finish the game but Steele also gave up one run and the Bruins came away with another win 2-1.
On Saturday the EU men started with Kyle Graham on the hill. SLCC got eight hits in the fourth and scored nine runs. Six of the runs were posted on Graham. Mike Newbury came in and struggled, giving up three hits and four runs while recording one out. Coach Madson then brought in Scott Kappas who ended the inning.
The Eagles were held scoreless and it ended in a 10-0. There were only two hits by EU in the game with Sturges and Ryan Madson getting a hit.
The last game against the Bruins, the Eagles put Steele back on the mound. He came off quick after giving up three runs. Garret Rose came into the game and got the Eagles out of the inning. But it was too much to over come for the Eagles. In the fourth SLCC put on another four runs. In that inning the Eagles brought in Lyman. Lyman gave EU one solid inning and only gave up one run.
Scott Kappas came in to end the game, which ended with a 9-1 loss for the Eagles and completing the sweep for SLCC.
The weekend was not a high point for the Eagles, although there were a few players that had a good weekend. Thomson had the best weekend with the stick getting four hits. Barber and Griffin also got three hits apiece.
CEU’s pitching was a downside for them over the weekend giving up a combined 29 runs on 16 hits and 17 bases on balls.
The Eagles were in every game until the fourth inning when the Bruins did the most damage. Combined, the Bruins scored 20 runs in the fourth. A huge contributing factor for the losses were 31 players who were stranded on base. The CEU men travel to Henderson Nevada to play College of Southern Nevada on March 14-15. The Eagles will then play there first home game agaist Dawson Community College on March19 at noon.