FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Edgewood College baseball team received a strong pitching performance in game one, and nearly completed an epic comeback in game two in a doubleheader split with Newbury College. The Eagles' Adam Eck was masterful over six innings of a 9-1 victory in the opener. In the second game, the Eagles scored three times in the bottom of seventh, but came up short 11-10.
Eck entered the day needing one strikeout to reach the 100 career strikeout milestone. It took him exactly one batter to do that, fanning the leadoff hitter on a full count. Eck becomes the 16th Eagle pitcher to reach 100 career strikeouts, joining teammate Steve Gavin who reached the mark earlier this week. Still Newbury College (6-7) scraped across an unearned run in the first inning for a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the opening game belonged to Edgewood College (3-5). Nick Cheaney tied the game in the second with an RBI double to score Sam McGill. In the third, the Eagles blew the game open with five runs, highlighted by RBI singles by Alex Fowler, Callen Gavic and Cheaney.
Meanwhile, Eck was cruising, allowing a single in the bottom of the second and nothing else until he was removed for the top of the seventh inning. Logan Pitts came on to finish off the Nighthawks with a 1-2-3 inning. Cheaney went 3-for-4 in the game with three runs batted in. Bryan Sternig and Fowler each had two hits for the Eagles.
The second game was a wild affair with Newbury taking the lead on three separate occasions, and the Eagles responding twice and nearly a third time. Nick Cheaney pounded his first career home run in the second inning, a two-run blast which put the Eagles ahead 2-1. Newbury took leads of 5-2 and 7-4, but Edgewood College tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. A Ryan Fields single tucked between triples by Fowler and Tucker yielded two runs, and the Eagles tied the game at 7-7 on Garrett Bogucki's RBI ground ball.
Newbury seemed to open an insurmountable lead with a four-run seventh, but Edgewood College had one more run in them. Patrick Wardlaw flipped a two-run, bases loaded single down the left field foul line to cut the Nighthawks margin to 11-9. Casey Willis then kept the game alive with an RBI single up the middle to score Wardlaw from second. However, Sternig's grounder deep in the hole was picked up with a great throw by Nighthawks shortstop Justin Banks to end the game on a close play at first.
Willis went 3-for-3 in the ball game with two runs batted in, as eight of the nine Eagles starters had a hit. Bogucki went 2-for-4, while Fowler and Tucker had triples and Cheaney a home run. On the mound, starter Alex Meister allowed five runs over 3.2 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Jeff Wolf came on in the sixth inning and ultimately suffered the loss.
Edgewood College will wrap up their 2018 spring trip tomorrow with a single game against Bethel University.
