Eagles Split on First Day of Round Robin Jubilee
BEREA, Ky. – The Eagles had to battle back all afternoon to earn a split on the first day of the KIAC Round Robin Jubilee at Berea College on Thursday, losing to Berea 10-2 before rallying to beat Cincinnati Christian 7-3.
Asbury (10-5-2, 1-1 KIAC) continued their offensive struggles in game one, collecting only two hits as Matt Ciolek and Greg Bowling each picked up a single. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Casey Messner walked and stole his way to third, and with two outs Ciolek knocked him home. Messner walked five times in the two games.
Berea would tie the score in the third before adding three runs in each of the final three innings. Jon Wes Adams (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season, pitching 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs. He also struck out five.
The Eagles fell behind in game two to Cincinnati Christian 3-0, and then erupted for five in the bottom of the fourth, all with two outs. Messner worked a walk and Evan Thomsen singled, setting up Danny Olszowy.
Olszowy knocked them both in with an extra base hit and then with Ciolek batting, Olszowy stole home. On the every next pitch Ciolek clubbed his sixth home run of the year. A pitch later Greg Bowling hit his first home run of the season. Olszowy finished with two hits, a double and a triple and two RBIs. Brandon Smith collected two hits, both doubles and Mark Deetsch also had two hits including a double.
Josh Thigpen (2-1) picked up the win by going 5 innings allowing four hits, a walk, and three runs. He struck out six. Anthony Palmer got the last five outs, four of them by strike out, to pick up his first save.
Before the season the KIAC coaches voted to play one extra game against each conference member in addition to the four game series that were scheduled to take place. All games during the jubilee will count towards conference record and bring the total number of conference games for each team to 25.
Asbury will take on Indiana Southeast and Brescia University today at Indiana Southeast. They will finish the round robin by battling Alice Lloyd on Saturday at 6:30 pm at IUS.
