Eagles Baseball Take Two in Doubleheader with Pikeville

David Finney | photo by Holly Heath

Waleska, GA - On Thursday, Reinhardt Baseball enjoyed an Opening Day win against the University of Pikeville and they wrapped up the series with a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. Although a bit cold, it was a great day for baseball and Coach Burton and his guys made the most of it. The Eagles won the first game 14-4 and 7-0 in the second game. It was a good first series for the Eagles and their record moves to 3-0.

Game One Recap (Game Two of the Series)

Just like the first game of the series with Pikeville on Thursday, the Eagles would get the bats going in the first inning of the second game against the Bears. Jordan Hampton was the starting pitcher and he was able to get in four innings where he had three strikeouts and five hits. The batters would get it rolling in the bottom of the first getting five hits and scoring 6 runs. Jacob Profit started off with a single and then immediately stole second. He was hit in by Jarrett Burney. Tucker Zdunich and Dawson Johns had back-to-back doubles and both scored. Reinhardt was able to bat through their entire lineup and Jacob Profit singled again in the same inning and had an RBI getting Albert Mora across the plate. It was a fast start by the Eagles and they were not done.

Hampton struck out two in the second inning while only giving up one hit and no runs again. The pitching was hot and the batters were doing their jobs scoring early. The bottom of the second would continue from how the Eagles were playing in the first. They scored 5 runs on 3 hits. Dalton Turnbow doubled, Alex Coulter singled, and the highlight of the inning was Lance Dockery's deep home run over the left-center fence.

The Eagles would have an 11-0 lead after two innings and that would be all they needed for the win, however, they were not finished. Reinhardt was able to produce three more runs over the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Ethan Foley would come in at the top of the fifth for Hampton and only give up one hit and zero runs in the three final innings. 

Jacob Profit would go 3 for 5 on the game and have 2 RBIs. Patrick Baggett and Burney would go 2 for 5 and the Eagles would get a 14-4 victory in the seven innings.

Game Two Recap (Game Three of the Series)

In the second game of the day, the Eagles would cool off slightly on scoring runs, but they would get back to holding Pikeville scoreless. Reinhardt had three pitchers hit the field for the scheduled seven-inning game with Andrew Herbert getting the start and going five innings. He only gave up five hits over those innings keeping the visiting Bears at bay. Hunter Paulsen and Parker Miller would both come in to pitch an inning each. Paulsen would only have two hits against him and Miller just one hit, but both kept Pikeville off the bags and the runs at zero.

The Eagles would do their scoring in the first, third, and fourth innings getting seven across the plate. The highlight of the game was the back-to-back homers by Shayne Campbell and Tucker Zdunich in the third inning. The Eagles would finish out the game scoring seven runs and keeping the Bears scoreless. Zdunich went 2 for 2, Campbell went 2 for three, and Williams Underwood and Patrick Baggett would go 2 for 4.

Coach Burton had this to say about the games today and the series, "Proud of our team on finishing off a weekend that showed we are beginning to take the next step. When sweeps are there we have to finish and today we did, as we haven't always been able to do that. Offensively this weekend was executed the way we have executed since we started this journey in September. There were so many positives, now we just need to keep improving daily and pushing ourselves to be better."

It was an outstanding two days of baseball for Coach Burton and the Eagles scoring 36 runs and only giving up 4. Reinhardt will enjoy the wins, but the team will put this behind them to prepare for USC Beaufort who comes in for a Friday/Saturday series next weekend.