Eagles win five of last six games

This archived article was written by: Shantel Hardy

USU Eastern’s baseball team spent the week in Montana and did incredibly well against their opponents. April 8-10, the Golden Eagles won five of their six games.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014, was a great day for the Golden Eagles. Winning 8-0 against Williston State and 2-1 against Dawson Community College in Glendive, Mont.
The following day, the team continued to dominate taking two more wins. Playing DCC for double-header, they won 4-3 and 10-1.
Thursday, April 10, 2014 Eastern traveled to Miles City, Mo. and put up a good fight but came up short losing 5-4. The Golden Eagles fought back in the second half of the double-header and ended up winning 12-8.
Assistant coach Matt Gochis, when talking about the games in Montana, said, “It was great to travel up north and come back so successful. It was vital to win those games to become eligible for the postseason. The team played well in all the games. It was probably the first time all year that our hitting, pitching, and fielding were all clicking”.
When asked about how the coaches and team are preparing for their upcoming games, Gochis replied, “We play the Utah All-Stars. These games will be used for fine tuning everything for the remainder of the season. The coaches are trying to improve consistency and the offensive by working on minor adjustments. The team knows what to work on, and will work to implement the changes.”
Eastern will be competing in a tournament starting May 1, if everything continues to go as it is. Gochis says, “We will most likely travel to Mesa, Az. and play against Mesa Community College in the first round. It is a best of three series, one game a day, nine innings.”
Will USU Eastern do well in the tournament? Gochis seems to have high hopes, “We have dominate pitching so it only takes manufacturing a run or two in order to win. Our hitters have done great all year as well as our offense”.
Gochis commented, “This year our goal is to reach to College World Series. We have reached the playoffs which is a great accomplishment, but our goal is to make it past the first round.”
When asked if Eastern will go out with a “bang” this year, Gochis said, “I believe we can beat any team in the nation if we show up and play well. We have the starting pitching and bullpen that can hold any offense to under three runs in a game. Our offense has been coming alive and we have been outslugging teams recently. If we stay consistent, battle each team and keep every game within two runs, we are right where we want to be”.
Gochis’ had this to say about winning the College World Series, “Why not us?”