HARRISONBURG, VA. – Eastern Mennonite swept the Juniata baseball team in the Eagles' season-opening doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
The Loyal Royals took a commanding 21-3 victory in game one and an 8-6 win in game two.
Starting on the mound in game one for the Eagles was Jesse Beeler (Greencastle, Pa. / Greencastle-Antrim). Beeler threw 3.1 innings, recorded two strikeouts and gave up three hits.
The Eagles were down 3-0 with two outs in the top of the fourth when they would pick up their first run.
Chris Schreder (Litiz, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) set up the Eagles' run when he was walked by EMU's Ryan Brewer. Anthony Lombardo (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) then reached first on a throwing error by the third baseman. The error gave Lombardo time to advance to second and Schreder time to advance home.
EMU immediately responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Schreder was walked again in the top of the sixth to set up Juniata's next run. He advanced to third when David DeFreest (Duxburry, Vt. / Harwood Union) singled out to center. Joe Klusman (Wilmington, Del. / St. Elizabeth) hit a single out to left to bring in Schreder to make it 6-2 Royals.
EMU's offense exploded in the bottom of the sixth with 15 runs. They'd take a 21-2 lead into the seventh.
Josh Keszczyk (Boyertown, Pa. / Boyertown) would score on a wild pitch in the seventh to bring game one to a close.
Down 4-0 early in game two, Juniata knew it had to get the bats going and clean up defensively.
Chris Sinisi (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) hit a double down the left field line with two outs in the second to get things started for JC. A single from Hunter Price (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon) brought Sinisi home and made it 4-1 EMU. Price stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch before the Royals got the final out of the inning.
At bat in the fouth and this time Sinisi blasts one deep for a solo homerun. Two quick outs ended the inning with the score 4-2 EMU.
The Royals got their offense going again in the bottom of the fourth. Ryan Hedrick brought in two before Kyle Mathews would fly out to right field to end the inning.
A fielding error got Klusman to first in the fifth. He then stole second on a Schreder strikeout. Lombardo hit a single up the middle to bring in Klusman and make it 6-3 with two outs. DeFreest doubled to bring in Lombardo and the Eagles were within two once more.
EMU picked up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to challenge Juniata's bats.
A single through the left side from Nick Stubbs (Hagerstown, Md. / South Hagerstown) would bring in Price with two outs in the sixth.
The Eagles went into the seventh inning down by three.
With two on and two outs, Sinisi hit a single up the middle to bring in DeFreest. Price approached the plate and would be walked, loading up the bases for Juniata. A fly out to right field would end the game and give EMU the win 8-6.
Isaac Kline (Everett, Pa. / Bedford) started on the mound for Juniata in game two. Kline tossed four complete innings, struck out three batters and gave up four hits.
Sinisi and Klusman led the Eagles offense vs EMU, batting .429 with three hits each.
Juniata returns to action in a doubleheader against Bridgewater Sun. Feb. 21. First pitch scheduled for 9 a.m.
