Eagles Sweep Bluefield Series on Zdunich’s Game Winner!

David Finney | photo by Angel Cornista

Waleska, GA - The Eagles were playing Bluefield for the weekend conference series. Reinhardt won game one on Friday with a commanding 8-0 victory. Things would continue in favor of the Eagles on the Saturday doubleheader as they would win 11-1 in Game Two and 4-3 in Game Three.  Game Three was one for the archives as Tucker Zdunich would seal the deal with a game-ending hit to get the win and the series. This win was not just a conference win that helps the Eagles in the standings, but it also is a momentum changer for a team. This is something that Reinhardt can build on to finish out the season strong.

Game One, 11-1 Eagles

Ethan Foley would get the start for the Eagles in game one and he would pitch seven innings where he struck out 3 Rams batters. He only had 6 hits in the game and allowed one run. The one run was a solo homer by Bluefield in the third inning. Other than this one hit, Foley pitched a great game and kept the Rams off the scoreboard. Andrew Herbert came into the eighth inning to relieve Foley and finish out the game for the Eagles win.

The game was very close until the bottom of the seventh. The Eagles broke the game open in the seventh and finished it off in the eighth getting up 10 runs on the Rams to end the game early. In the third inning, Jacob Profit would lead off with a hit to center field and he was eventually hit home on a sac fly by Shayne Campbell. This tied the game at one all, but the Eagles would take the lead in fourth scoring two more runs. Jarrett Burney would get on base by hitting a triple and then he was hit home on another hit by Profit. Later, Profit was able to score on a single to right by Dawson Johns. 

In the seventh inning, the Eagles would get another three runs on two hits. Alex Coulter singled to left which scored Dayton Romig. Patrick Baggett would also score in the inning from getting on base with a walk. Jacob Profit would make some noise again by getting a single to left, which brought in Nick Sanders who had walked earlier in the inning. At the end of seven, it was 6-1 Eagles.

In the eighth inning, the Rams would get into some pitching issues which allowed Reinhardt to score an additional five runs. Romig, Baggett, Sanders, Alvaro Valdez, and Coulter all scored in this inning from a few walks, hit by pitch, Jacob Profit got the big hit in this game to end it early, 11-1. His single to left scored Valdez and Coulter. Profit would go 5 for 6 in this game and pick up 4 RBIs. 

Game Two, 4-3 Eagles

Parker Miller would get the start in the final game and he had a pretty good outing as well. Miller would get 5 strikeouts in his four innings of work. He would only allow 2 runs on 3 hits. Miller was relieved by Hunter Paulsen and Andrew Herbert. The young left-hander, Hunter Paulsen, would get 2 strikeouts in his two innings of work.

The Eagles' bats cooled off slightly in this match-up and it would become a pitching duel. Neither team hit particularly well in the first part of this game.

Reinhardt would score one run in the third when Jarrett Burney would lead off with a double. Burney scored on a sac fly by Dawson Johns. The Rams would score their two runs in the fourth inning which put them up by one run after four. Reinhardt would score to tie the game in the sixth inning when Tucker Zdunich doubled to left field. He was hit home after this on a sac fly by Patrick Baggett. After six, the Eagles had tied the game - however, they still had one more inning to hold the Rams from scoring. 

The final inning would have the highlight play of the game. Bluefield would score the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, which put pressure on the Eagles to have to score in the bottom of the seventh. The score was 3-4 Bluefield going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Jarrett Burney would lead off the inning with a single to center field. Jacob Profit would get hit by a pitch to put two runners on base and Dawson Johns would single to center field to move the runners and load the bases. Finally, Tucker Zdunich came to the plate with one out. On the first pitch to him, Zdunich ripped the ball to right field which allowed Burney and Profit to get around the bases wtih speed. A throw would come in, but both crossed the plate with plenty of time. Profit would be the run that came across the plate for the final run of the game and giving the Eagles the dramatic win, 4-3.

The Eagles have been playing really good baseball as of late and they will look to continue this in the two single games on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Tuesday's game will be on the road at Faulkner and Wednesday is another home game with Truett McConnell. It will be an exciting time as the final month of baseball starts for the Eagles and they line themselves up for post-season play.