Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jose Briseno, USU Eastern Athletics
After a day of scoring and offensive firepower, the Utah State University Eastern Eagles and the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) Golden Eagles played two closely-contested games on Tuesday to close out the season series.
Game one was a pitcher’s duel as USUE’s Carson Hawkes and CSI’s Kaden Cloward allowed just one combined run and six hits. CSI drove in the game’s lone run in the fourth inning to claim the 1-0 victory.
Hawkes finished the game with six innings pitched and allowed one run on four hits. Hawkes struck out seven batters and walked just two. Gavin Douglas and Davis Kirby were the lone Eagles to record a hit in the game.
The final game of the series saw a little more offense, but the pitchers still had their way.
Southern Idaho took a 1-0 lead after the bottom half of the first inning, but Eastern quickly responded with three runs of their own in the top of the second. Conner Bancroft scored on a CSI defensive error, and a few pitches later, Dakari Armendariz scored on a passed ball. Mack Bright then hit an RBI single to score Deavin Lopez from second, giving Eastern a 3-1 lead.
CSI responded with runs in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game at 3-3 before earning the 4-3 win on a walk-off walk.
“We needed these games and we just came up short,” said head coach Kirk Haney. “It’s tough to play eight games in five days, but it’s just as hard to lose three games by one run. We have to bounce back and keep rolling into our series with Colorado Northwestern.”
The Eagles now sit at 11-21 overall and 7-13 in conference play, enough to currently stand in fourth place of the SWAC standings.