PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Arcadia University baseball team dropped the first leg of a non-conference doubleheader, 5-3, but managed to hang on for the game-two victory, 3-2, to salvage the split against Eastern University Saturday afternoon at Erny Field. With the split, the Knights moved to 19-14-1 on the season while Eastern moved their record to 15-22.

Game One: Eastern 5, Arcadia 3

After both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings, the visiting Eagles struck first in the top of the third inning. The leadoff batter reached on a defensive miscue and two singles loaded the bases with just one out for Eastern. Senior Ryan McMenamin then doubled down the right field line but because of a couple of throwing errors, the bases were cleared and gave the Eagles a 4-0 advantage.

The Knights responded in the bottom half after a leadoff single from sophomore Jordan Draude and a double from senior Justin Simpson plated Draude. Freshman Pat Shevlin took advantage of a fielding error by the third baseman and was able to advance to third after a wild pitch and a groundout. Because of a wild pitch, Shevlin was able to cross home and cut the Knights' deficit to just two.

Arcadia pulled within one run after tacking on another in the bottom half of the sixth after drawing two walks to lead off the inning and taking advantage of another fielding error which allowed sophomore Justin Chasmar to score from second. The Knights were able to then load the bases with two outs but could not across any more runs after a flyout ended the threat.

The Eagles added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, and the Knights could not make a comeback bid after junior Korey McCormick retired the side in order to earn his second save of the year. Sophomore Ryan Kehr (4-4) entered the game at the start of the fourth inning and was credited with the win after senior starter Austin Little did not throw the minimum number of innings to be credited with the victory. For the Knights, senior Jason Goldberg (4-3) suffered the loss after tossing five innings and surrendering four runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks while striking out four.

Game Two: Eastern 2, Arcadia 3

The Knights jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning after a leadoff error allowed Chasmar to reach first and after a walk, a single from junior Nick Todero sent Chasmar across home.

Arcadia was then able to push across two insurance runs in the fifth inning. Chevlin came up clutch for the Knights after a one-out two-RBI single scored classmate Drew Coisson and senior Tom Wagner and gave them a 3-0 lead. Eastern came up short in the top of the seventh, but put up two runs after a few defensive miscues kept the Eagles in the game.

Sophomore Jake Lloyd picked up the victory for Arcadia, evening his record at 2-2 after going five innings on the mound and scattering just three hits and two walks and two strikeouts. Senior Kyle Farnholtz earned his first save of the year after finishing the last two innings of the game and allowing two unearned runs on one hit. For the Eagles, freshman Chis Marinaccio (3-1) suffered his first loss of the year after tossing four innings and allowing one run on one hit and a walk while recording three strikeouts. 

Shevlin finished the game 1-3 at the plate but had two RBIs and Todero finished the day going 3-6 at the plate with an RBI between both games.

The doubledouble concluded the regular season for Arcadia, but the Knights will now await to hear where they will be seeded for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament, which will be announced within the next couple of days.