One. Step. Closer...

photo by CJ Carithers

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Baseball made a huge move in the positive direction Tuesday afternoon in the fourth game of the NAIA Waleska Bracket. With a win over the powerful batting lineup of the Park Point Pioneers, the Eagles vaulted themselves right into the NAIA Waleska Bracket Championship Game.  The Eagles took down the Pioneers in a 15 to 7 rout and are only one win away from punching their ticket to the 2024 World Series.  Reinhardt has only one trip to the World Series in the program's history which happened in 2018 under the legendary Head Coach and Atheltic Director, Bill Popp. This will be a huge accomplishment for the program taken over by Coach Jonathan Burton in 2019.

The Eagles went with starting pitcher Ben Medley who has had a good season with some roller coaster performances. In Tuesday's game, Medley would have the task of keeping a lineup down that had six home runs and scored thirteen runs in their opening game. Medley had good stuff going for most of his innings. He was able to keep the Pioneers to just three runs over the six innings he pitched and the offense did their job of giving the pitching staff some cushion. Over the six innings, he only had one strikeout, but he scattered the hits to just five and only gave up one home run. Point Park has a powerful lineup; almost every batter in the lineup can put the ball out of the park on any wrong pitch.

Cobey Allison and Ryan Mahoney came in during the top of the seventh to keep things going on the mound for the Eagles. Allison, who had a great showing in the AAC Tournament, struggled in his one-third inning giving up a home run on his first pitch. The Pioneers would end up scoring 4 on him. Mahoney was called to clean up the inning, but after striking out a batter he allowed a few hits that scored some of Allison's base runners.  Brett Allen would be called to come in as he has done all season to finish out the game.  At this point in the game, the Eagles' offense had built a 12 to 7 lead - but Allen settled down any comeback thoughts by the Pioneers.

Over the final two innings, Allen kept the score at zero for the Pioneers and only gave up one hit.  He did not have a strikeout, but that did not matter as he controlled the game and halted the minor comeback that Point Park had attempted in the seventh. His highlight moment was the start of the final two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a hit up the middle. Allen jumped to snag the baseball and quickly got the ball to second on a waiting Luis Mendoza. Mendoza immediately shifted the ball to Nash Crowell with his foot on the bag at first base.  It was a one-six-three double-play that put the Eagles into the championship game in style.

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

 Offensively, the Eagles had one of their best run-producing games of the season. The Eagles' bats punished six Pioneer pitchers with 15 total runs, three homers, and four doubles. The middle of the Eagles lineup did the most damage to Point Park with two innings in particular that put the game away. Reinhardt opened the game up in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings where they scored 6, 5, and 3 respectively.  Despite the minor comeback in the seventh inning by Point Park, the game seemed to be over after the fifth inning, however, the Eagles made sure they were heading to the championship game by adding the extra runs later in the game. Here are some of the highlighted players from Tuesday's game:

• Nash Crowell, 3 for 4 with a home run, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs scored.

• Dylan Lewis, 2 for 5 with a home run, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.

• Tucker Zdunich, 2 for 4 with a home run, and 3 runs scored.

• Jamel Rookard, 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs, and one run scored.

• Adrian Vargas, 2 for 4 with one RBI and one run scored.

The Eagles still have a lot of work to do before they meet their goal of making it to Lewiston, Idaho for the NAIA World Series - but they are sitting in a great spot.  They can sit back and watch the play-in-game which takes place at Ken White Field at 2 pm Wednesday afternoon.  Point Park coming off the Tuesday evening loss will face Keiser University for a chance to play the Eagles in the Waleska Bracket Championship Game.  Keiser earned their way into the play-in-game by knocking out #12 ranked Jessup University on Tuesday afternoon game.  The Seahawks came back in the bottom innings to steal the win away from Jessup and send the Warriors back to California without a postseason win. 

The winner of the Point Park-Keiser matchup will turn around to face Reinhardt at 6 pm.  If the Eagles win, the tournament is over with the Eagles being crowned champions of the Waleska Bracket and the trip to the NAIA World Series.  A loss by the Eagles would create a final matchup on Thursday with the winner getting the trip to Lewiston.  Reinhardt is playing to end the series tonight.  

Games can be seen on the Reinhardt Athletics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@reinhardtathletics2617/streams