MOUNTAINEER BASEBALL

Eastern Knocks off Grayson – 12 in a Row
Story by Staff – 04/07/09

The Eastern baseball team (20-15-1 / 4-0) knocked off defending National Champion Grayson County College on Monday.  The Mountaineers won by a score of 11-10.  The win is the teams 12th in a row and during that span they have scored 168 runs (14 per game).

Eastern jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning.  Three hits, four walks and a sacrifice fly plated the five runs in the 1st inning.  After Grayson scored another run in the top of the 2nd inning, Eastern answered back with two more runs.  Jesse Santo blasted his 11th home run of the season and 7th in the past five games.  Santo added a RBI single in the 4th inning to increase the Mountaineer lead to 8-2.  However, Grayson responded with a six run 5th inning to tie the game.  Still tied heading into the bottom of the 6th inning, Eastern scored three runs and took the lead for good.  Jeff Scardino led off the inning with a single.  Stephen Hagen then connected on his 19th home run of the year.  With 19 home runs, Hagen set the Eastern single season record for home runs.  With two outs, Justin Klusak drove in Santo to cap the Mountaineer scoring.  Grayson scored two runs in the top of the 7th inning.  Eastern’s bullpen shut Grayson down in the final two innings.  Kaleb Brawner tossed a scoreless 8th and Scardino threw the 9th and picked up his second save of the year.  Seth Terry improved to 5-1 while throwing 2 2/3 innings of relief.

The Mountaineers will begin their second Bi-State Conference series this Thursday.  They will host Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in a 1:00 pm double header.  The two teams will take the field again on Saturday in Miami, OK.  Saturday’s double header also starts at 1:00 pm.  Eastern carries a 4-0 Bi-State Conference record and NEO is currently 1-3.