FDU Teaneck, NJ - When the Eagles arrived at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex in Teaneck, New Jersey, they were excepting to play two games. What they got instead, was a 13 inning marathon in the first game, and another one run game in the nightcap. The result however, was what they wanted all along, a sweep of the Gulls on Saturday 11-8 and 4-3.

With the sweep of the twin bill, the Eagles improve to 11-7-1, while the Gulls drop to 7-13.

The scoring opened for both ball clubs in the second inning. Matt Tancredi doubled home Dylan Habeeb to score the first run of the afternoon. North Jersey answered back in the home half of the inning with a lead-off single and a pair of stolen bases from Christian Sepulveda. Brandon Hanson plated Sepulveda from third with a base hit to tie the game at 1.

In the 4th, the Gulls would take the lead back with Tancredi knocking in two more runs with another double.

The Eagles would answer again in the bottom half of the inning, cutting the lead to one. Casey Dana kicked off the frame with a double and another two-bagger from Tyler McAvoy scored him.

A 3-2 Ocean lead became a 6-2 advantage in the 5th, with the league’s seventh best team plating three.

However, a common a theme continued for the Eagles, responding well in the bottom half of innings. They garnered three runs of their own in the inning’s home half to keep the Gull lead within one.

Bobby Shannon got on first with a walk and Luis Amaro moved him to third with a base hit. With one out, Sepulveda then doubled them both in for the first two runs of the frame. Dana then reached with the second base on balls of the inning and McAvoy brought him home with a double of his own.

The comeback was complete when Shane Woeful came home on a sac fly RBI from Brian Kelly in 6th.

With the game tied at 6 and both teams going scoreless in the final inning of the seven frame affair,that meant free baseball in Teaneck.

North Jersey had several opportunities in extras, but justwere not able to break through. In the bottom half of the 8th, Woeful doubled with one out. He was pinch ran for with Anthony DeFrancesco. The Gateway Community College product proceeded to get thrown out at home trying to score on a Shannon single.

In the 9th frame a pair of lead off singles got Kelly and Sepulveda onto 1st and 2nd. And after Dana recorded the 1st out, McAvoy grounded into a 5-5-3 double play to end the inning. Cris Ruiz then led off the 10th with a double, but Jonathan Budesa, DeFrancesco and Shannon went down in order to follow.

Meanwhile, Corey Martinez was dealing on the mound for the Eagles. Since recording the final out of the 5th, the righty had allowed just one base runner leading into the 13th.

It was in that inning that the Gulls finally got to him. Matt Cuppari brought Joe DeMaio home with a double. Then Dylan Habeeb made it 8-6, scoring Cuppari with a double of his own.

So the stage was set, trailing by two in the bottom of the 13th, the Eagles had one last chance to win it in extras.

Jimmy Huber led off with a walk and Shannon went to second with a double. With one out following an Amaro strikeout, Kelly singled in Huber and advanced Shannon to third. Sepulveda was next, flying out to third to get the Eagles down to their final out.

Dana followed by working a walk to load the bases for McAvoy. The right hander then won the game, crushing a walk off grand slam on 2-2 to make the final score 11-8.

The grand salami topped off a 4-7, 6 RBI game 1 for McAvoy. There was also three hit games for Sepulveda, Amaro, Shannon and Woeful. Kelly and Sepulveda knocked in 2 runs a piece. Hanson picked up his second hit and RBI of the year for the first Eagle run.

Martinez was nothing short of spectacular out of the bullpen for North Jersey. He went 7.2 IP allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 7. Kevin Romero got the win for the Eagles though, going two and a third without allowing a hit and striking out one.

The Gulls got into the scoring column early, picking up two runs in the top half of the first.

In the 2nd, North Jersey put across their first run. The frame began with Sepulveda singling to center field. He got all the way to third with a wild pitch and a stolen base. An RBI groundout from Ruiz brought Sepulveda 90 feet to home.

Trailing 2-1 in the 4th, a couple of walks to Ruiz and Huber set up DeFrancesco. He botched a bunt attempt, getting Ruiz thrown out at 3rd, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with one away. After Budesa was hit by a pitch to load the bases, McAvoy plated two more runs with a single to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

A pair of solo homers came in the 6th. William Johnson knotted up the game at 3 with a one out shot. But Huber came right back with a lead-off knock to put the Eagles up 4-3.

Ryan Aquino kept the Eagles there, going all seven innings and getting the win. The righty allowed 3 runs on 7 hits, walked 3 and struck out 9.

McAvoy tacked on two more hits and a couple of runs batted in. Huber’s homer was his second of the year.      

 - Thomas Terzulli