Baseball Fends Off Muskingum for 7-5 Win

FORT PIERCE, Fla.- Behind eight strong innings on the mound by Briley Seiter (Bellevue, Ky.), the Eastern Nazarene College baseball team held off Muskingum to earn a 7-5 win in the first meeting between the two teams since 2006 Thursday.

The Lions climb to 4-2 on the year with the victory while the Fighting Muskies sink to 2-4 overall.

Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) paced the offense with three hits and three runs scored. Steven Pesce (Harrison, N.Y.) posted two base knocks and two runs on the day. Joshua Bombard (Rutland, Mass.) and James Coury (Milford, Conn.) both registered a pair of RBIs and one hit. Dylan Louviaux (Mohnton, Pa.) chipped in with two runs scored, one hit, and an RBI.

Eastern Nazarene produced a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning to claim a 2-0 lead. With two runners in scoring position, Bombard doubled to left-centerfield to drive in Pesce and Carmody.

The Lions chalked up three runs in the third to widen the gap to 5-0. Pesce scampered home on a wild pitch before Carmody and Louviaux both scored on sacrifice fly balls off the bats of Matthew Urena (Flushing, N.Y.) and Coury.

Muskingum got on the board in the top of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 5-1 as Marc Ibarra belted a solo home run.

Eastern Nazarene answered with two runs in the home half of the fifth to gain a six-run advantage, 7-1. Louviaux raked a single up the middle to collect his first hit of the season and plate Carmody from third base. Coury hammered a double to the gap in left-center to knock in Louviaux from second base.

The Fighting Muskies tallied three times in the seventh to pull to within three, 7-4. Brett Carson singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Trey Yoder. Ibarra tagged up and scored from third base on a sacrifice fly to right field by Michael Pagano before Carson crossed the dish on a sacrifice fly by Nate Mejia.

Muskingum sliced the gap to 7-5 with a score in the ninth. Sam Pinckert looped a base hit to left to plate Carson from third base.

Seiter hurled eight innings and struck out six in his second start of the spring and longest career outing. Tommy Merrick (Brockton, Mass.) worked one frame to pick up the save in his team-leading third relief appearance.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene battles Houghton in a doubleheader for the second year in a row March 8.