Coming off a modest four game winning streak, the Eagles want to continue on their winning ways as they face the Lehigh Valley Catz for a Saturday July 12 doubleheader. The Eagles need to catch-up to division rivals the Staten Island Tide and South Jersey Giants to capture a coveted playoff spot.  The Catz were standing in the way.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Eagles drew first blood.  With a full count, Dane McDermott was hit by a pitch.  On the first pitch to Kyle Cullen, a ball, he stole second base easily. This was his seventh steal of the year.  Cullen was issued a four pitch walk. With runners on first and second, Kyle Grimm steps up to the plate.  On a 1-0 pitch, the Eagles successfully executed a double steal. Grimm, a .350 hitter this season, then rips a shot to leftfield scoring both McDermott and Cullen. With Ryan Carroll up and a 3-2 count, hits to grounder to the shortstop, a good double play ball and boots it.  With runners on first and second, Eduardo Familia would be hit by a pitch loading up the bases. Brian McKenna then grounds into a unique 6-4-5 double play.  Grimm, the runner on third made it home safely before the tag for the third out was made to make the score 3-0 Eagles.

The Eagle would notch another run in the bottom of the second.  The Eagle number one hitter, John Brucker, ropes a line drive to right past the outstretched glove of the Catz right fielder Matt Hansen for a two out double.  McDermott followed with a slow roller to the left of the second baseman that Dane easily beats out for an infield hit.  That brings up Kyle Cullen with an opportunity to increase the lead – and he succeeded.  He drives in Brucker for the fourth run of the game with a base hit to right.

The Eagles starter, Anthony Pacillo was moving along nicely.  Even though he did not have his best stuff, he still kept the Catz at bay and scoreless until he was removed after pitching five innings.  In came Mike Sweeney. He walked the leadoff hitter Matt Hansen on four pitches.  After getting the next batter out, he then walked Matt Roethke on a questionable 3-2 pitch that everyone believed was a strike.  The Catz sensing blood in the water with a huge opportunity to tie the game, pinch hit Cooper Goldby with David Moyer.  Moyer works the count to 3-1, and crushes a fast ball to right field for a three run blast.  Pitching coach Doug Cinnella then called in Nick Cuono to close the door.  He walked the two hitters he faced.  So the call to the bullpen was made to bring in Chris Baldi and closed the rally by inducing a fly ball out to Mark Garzillo.

The Eagles went quietly on their half of the sixth.  The Eagles then brought in their closer Steven Bloodworth to shut the door.  This did not come easy for Bloodie.  After getting the first out, Andrew Hermanson drives a ground ball single to left that some felt should have been playable.  The Catz sends in the speedy runner Nick Beinlich to pinch run for Hermanson as this was the tying run.  The next hitter Matt Hansen hits a ground ball misplayed by the second base and trickles out to the outfield.  Both runners advance to second and third.  With one out, they intentionally walked the next hitter Ryan Luke, to load the bases.  With the infield up to cut down the tying run, Bloodie bore down and struck out Matt Price.  With the infield back to regular depth, on a 2-2 count, he induced Tom Asbaty to fly out to center to close out the game.  This gives Bloodie his seventh save of the season, and now leads the league in that category.  The save preserves the win for Pacillo who is now 3-3.

The second game had the Catz starting David Moyer, who hit the pinch hit three run home run against Matt Hennie.  Matt has pitched superbly for the Eagles this season, being one of their most consistent starters.

In the first, Hennie gave up back to back doubles to shortstop Mackey Price and right fielder Matt Hansen for the first run of the game.  In the bottom half, with two outs, the number three hitter Kyle Cullen takes a huge cut on a 0-1 pitch and drives the ball over the left field fence, just inside the foul pole, for a home run.  This gives him four for the season, and the league lead in that category.

Both pitchers were dominating keeping both teams at bay.  The Eagles then chipped away on Moyer in the bottom of the fourth.  With two outs in the frame, Kyle Grimm drives a single to left field.  On a 2-1 count on Ryan Carroll, Grimm steals second for only his second steal of the year.  With Grimm in scoring position, Carroll was looking something to drive.  Carroll gets a line drive base hit plating Grimm with the go ahead run.

In the fifth, the Eagles challenged Moyer again.  With one out, Nick Mascelli drives a single to center.  He would then steal second and with an overthrow from the catcher to second base, Mascelli advances to third. John Brucker then hits a sacrifice fly to center field driving in Mascelli making it 3-0 game. The Catz manage to tally one more run in the 6th on a pair of singles and a stolen base, but the Eagles would not be denied as they win the game 3-2, and thus completing the sweep of the Catz.  The sweep also increases their win streak to six games.  Matt Hennie gets the complete game victory raising his record to 3-1 with an ERA of 2.31.

With a six game winning streak, the Eagles are poised to take one of the coveted playoff spots.  They have four games coming up each with the Staten Island Tide and South Jersey Giants with high play-off implications.  As our illustrious GM Brian Casey likes to state, we are now poised for our bomb run.  The Eagles will be home again on Saturday July 19 to take on the Quakertown Blazers for a doubleheader at 1:30pm at Overpeck County Park, Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

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Writer:             Deana Deo

Contributor:    René Miranda