USU Eastern Press Release
Baseball lost their four-game home series to the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles 3-1 on Friday and Saturday.
Errors and small mistakes were the main problem for the Eagles, according to head coach Scott Madsen.
“They were probably the best team we have played all year. We did a lot of mistakes that we haven’t made since the beginning of the year and we took a step back this week in some areas,” said Madsen.
In game one, the Eagles lost 8-2 after battling CSI for the first seven innings of the game with Jarod Lessar pitching for the Eagles. A walk given up by Cole Fossat and an error led to CSI putting up six runs in the top of the eighth to give the game to CSI.
The Eagles struggled during the first inning of game two, giving up seven runs off six hits with an error.
“I think we were kind of settled in and everyone was not as amped as we usually are,” said USU Eastern sophomore Seth Butterfield.
USU Eastern went to their bullpen right away and went through seven pitchers in game two.
Trailing 10-3 in the bottom of the third, sophomore Jesse Rowley hit a three-run home run.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Fossat hit a grand slam to pull the Eagles within five. Unfortunately, the Eagles allowed a few more runs in the next inning to pull away and lose 14-7.
On Saturday, the Eagles bounced back with a dramatic 2-1 win over CSI in the bottom of the seventh.
With CSI leading 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh, a Jarrett Hunt RBI single scored Jesse Rowley from third to tie it at 1-1. The next batter for USU Eastern was Butterfield, who reached first on a fielder’s choice and Hunt scored on an error from CSI’s shortstop throwing the ball into the dugout.
“I was thinking ‘let’s go’ that game and I was super pumped. It felt great to start the day with a win like that,” said Butterfield.
Getting the win for the Eagles on the hill was sophomore Chase Stratton, who threw a complete game. Stratton allowed only four hits, one earned run, three walks while throwing six strikeouts.
In the final game of the series on Saturday, the Eagles lost 13-3 and was ten-run ruled by CSI in the bottom of the sixth. The Eagles had a season-high six errors in game four and allowed the opposing team to be in control the entire game.
USU Eastern had 12 total errors as a team while CSI finished the weekend with only four.
“It is all errors. Every time we broke it up, it was errors. It was throwing, not even the fielding part. It was controlling the baseball and letting those guys get up and controlling the situation,” said Madsen.
The team will take a break this week from Scenic West Athletic Conference play and use the bye week to play Utah State University Club. An extramural club team from the USU campus in Logan.
Madsen said that they will use this week to get back on track and be the team they are used to playing like.
“Going into this week, we are going to focus on controlling the baseball on the field. We are going to work on the little things like fielding bunts and throwing it to the next guy,” said Madsen.
The Eagles now have an overall record of 14-15 with a SWAC record of 9-7. They currently sit in third place ahead of Salt Lake and behind CSI.
The four-game series against USU Club will be at Carlson Field starting on Friday at 1 p.m.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
