By Loren Miller, USE Eastern Sports Information
PRICE – Utah State Eastern baseball was swept by the Salt Lake Community College Bruins in a four-game series on Friday and Saturday. It was the first series of games for the Eagles since the beginning of February due to weather. The Eagles had eight games cancelled in the last two weeks, including last week’s Scenic West Athletic Conference opener against Colorado Northwestern.
Just being able to play outside on dirt was a win for the USU Eastern head coach Scott Madsen and his program.
“Being able to play outside was a great feeling for these boys.They have worked hard inside and this showed them that all the hard work they put in was beneficial for them. It was almost as though a weight had been lifted off the shoulders of the entire team,” said Madsen.
The Eagles lost the opening game of the series 5-3 on Friday afternoon.
After trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles rallied to tie the game at 3-3. The Bruins added two more runs in the sixth off a wild pitch and an error by the Eagles.
Following the game one loss, the Eagles lost 9-5 in nine innings. The Eagles had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t get anyone home to come back and tie the Bruins.
On Saturday, USU Eastern lost to the Bruins 11-0 in game three and lost 16-3 in game four of the series.
USU Eastern shortstop Tanner Evans had a team-high six hits in the series against SLCC while freshman second baseman Parker Buys had three hits, two RBIs and two runs.
Coach Madsen said after the series that his team learned a lot about themselves after going up against a very good pitching staff from Salt Lake.
“I feel like we had quality approaches with our at bats this weekend. They have a top pitching staff and we put together a good plan and had opportunities to win in almost every game this weekend,” said Madsen. “I feel we learned a lot about where we need to be in order to compete in this league.”
Another major reason for Salt Lake’s success against the Eagles over the weekend was the Bruins’ ability to get on base and capitalizing on defensive errors. The Bruins had eight stolen bases, 33 walks and 34 hits in the series. Madsen said allowing those things to happen is what the Eagles will need to work on moving forward.
“I feel like we need to improve with our mental errors and throwing more strikes. We allowed too many free bases to an already good hitting team,” said Madsen.
USU Eastern will hit the road this week for a four-game series in Henderson, Nev. to take on the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes. Friday’s doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m. and Saturday’s doubleheader will start at 1 p.m.
All four games can be seen on the Scenic West Digital Network at scenicwestnetwork.com.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
