Bruins bite Eagles hard
It wasn’t Utah State University Eastern’s night on offense nor defense. The Golden Eagles met the Salt Lake Community College Bruins at Brigham Young University on Oct. 20, 2011 to battle out a two-game series. The Bruins took an early advantage of pitcher Colter Moore and had three runs on the scoreboard before the team had a chance to get two outs.
The pitching struggled, as did the offense for USU Eastern which did not manage a hit until the fourth inning as shortstop Chance Abrath got on base with a single. The pitching staff was roughed up for 16 runs in seven innings.
This archived article was written by: KC Smurthwaite
It wasn’t Utah State University Eastern’s night on offense nor defense. The Golden Eagles met the Salt Lake Community College Bruins at Brigham Young University on Oct. 20, 2011 to battle out a two-game series. The Bruins took an early advantage of pitcher Colter Moore and had three runs on the scoreboard before the team had a chance to get two outs.
The pitching struggled, as did the offense for USU Eastern which did not manage a hit until the fourth inning as shortstop Chance Abrath got on base with a single. The pitching staff was roughed up for 16 runs in seven innings.
The lone bright spot was sophomore pitcher Jordan Hepworth closing the game with three scoreless innings, while striking out five Bruin batters. The Golden Eagles lost 17-2. Eastern committed four errors and also gave up seven walks to SLCC.
The second game was a different story as the team came out with solid defense. The offense was helped by lefties Drake Turner and Joe Barta who kept the Bruin offense off-balance.
USU Eastern was down 6-1 in the sixth inning when hitter Denver Hansen hit a two-run triple to put the Eagles within striking distance of SLCC. Eastern added two more runs in the seventh to bring the score to 6-5. Unfortunately that was the last offense both SLCC and Eastern manufactured for the game as the Eagles fell 6-5.
“We came out extremely flat in the first inning, and then the snowball effect hurt us in the first game,” stated head coach Scott Madsen. He added “The second game we battled and built confidence to be able to compete with SLCC.” The Golden Eagles wrapped up their fall season with this series and now look forward to Jan. 28, 2012 when they start the official baseball season in Moab, Utah.
“It’s time to buckle down, the next time we play in a game will be the official season,” commented left fielder Ben Kraja. Madsen also added that the team is“extremely ahead of schedule,” then they were last year at this time.
