Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jose Briseno, USU Eastern Athletics
A win on Saturday would mean postseason play for the Utah State University Eastern Eagles. The Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) post season baseball tournament moved to a four-team, double-elimination tournament this season, meaning only the top four teams in conference play will move on to the conference tournament.
The Eagles entered the day with a six-game lead over the Colorado Northwestern Community College Spartans for the fourth and final seed. Eastern was also just a game behind the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) for the third seed.
Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) and USU Eastern opened Saturday with a pitcher’s duel. Salt Lake got on the board first in the fifth inning on an RBI single. Eastern responded in the bottom of the sixth with a Dakari Armendariz two-run home run. Vaughn Deming doubled to left field to score Conner Bancroft. Deming would later score on a wild pitch to give Eastern a 4-1 lead after the frame.
Micah Del Rio entered the game on the mound in the top of the seventh, replacing starter Ky Decker, and earned the save and Eastern won the game 4-1. Decker got the start and win on the mound for Eastern. He struck out 11 batters and allowed just one run on four hits. Micah Del Rio recorded the final three outs of the game, striking out one. Armendariz went 3-3 on the day with two RBIs on a two-run home run.
The final game of the series was tightly contested until SLCC broke the game open in the third and seventh innings. The Bruins scored three runs in the fourth and four in the seventh to solidify the 12-5 win.
Eastern recorded nine hits in the game, led by three from Davis Kirby and three from Deavin Lopez. Westin Corless got the start on the mound and lasted four innings, allowing five runs on five hits. Dylan Hawkes, Troy Connell, Aiden Taylor and Del Rio also saw time on the mound.
With the game one win on Saturday, the Eagles clinch at least the fourth seed in the SWAC tournament. They enter the next week tied for third with CSI with both teams playing their final series of the regular season.
“We have a chance to determine how the conference tournament shakes out,” said head coach Kirk Haney. “We want to that third seed. I feel like we are playing our best baseball at just the right time. We need to continue to stay hot moving into this final regular season series.”