A Pitching Duel Decides Game One of Spring Arbor Series

David FInney | photo by Elisabeth Dunlap

Waleska, GA - After hosting a weekend tournament the previous weekend where the weather was picture perfect for baseball, Mother Nature let us know that she was not ready for Spring to come just yet. It was a cold, windy day at Ken White Baseball Field and a previous night full of rain in North Georgia, however, the field had time to dry out and the show must continue! 

Spring Arbor was visiting the Eagles coming all the way from Michigan to get a warm-weather baseball series in. Hunter Paulsen would get the nod from Coach Burton to pitch for the Eagles and was able to get three innings before being relieved by Ethan Foley. Paulsen would hold the Cougars to just one hit and no runs in those three innings. Foley would get in six innings and keep it scoreless and only giving up four hits. Foley had five strikeouts and Paulsen would record one. 

It would be a tough day hitting for the Eagles in the cold, windy weather. Reinhardt was held to just four hits over the eight innings and they had nine strikeouts against them, however, the pitching staff was doing their jobs so the offense could get it going at some point.  That point came in the bottom of the eighth when Tucker Zdunich would single to right field. Will Underwood followed this by reaching first on an error by the Cougar's shortstop. Xavier Arnette would be the hero of the night getting the win for the Eagles on a hit-to-left field.  This was able to score both Zdunich and Underwood giving Reinhardt a 2-0 lead.  

All the Eagles had to do was pitch a good top of the ninth and they would take the first win of the series. Foley would pitch the final inning recording a lineout to second, a groundball to second, and ended the game on a swinging strikeout. Coach Burton had this to say about the game, "Today was a very difficult day to play and hit as we are very fortunate to get a win. Both teams pitched well, and we were able to make one more play which turned out to be a huge 2 out hit to score two runs. We need to be more aggressive and create some pressure. I felt like spring arbor dictated the pace of the game today."

A sign of a good team is being able to win multiple ways. The Eagles can score a lot of runs at times, they can manufacture runs when needed, and the pitching staff can throw nine innings of scoreless baseball to pick up wins. The Eagles will look to keep the wins going on Saturday as they finish up the series with a doubleheader with Spring Arbor.