EATON — The Eaton varsity baseball team is off to a good start in 2017, ending the first week of the season with a 4-1 record. The Eagles’ pitching staff dominated in three of those wins, tossing three shutouts.
The Eagles started the season with three wins, including back-to-back victories over Bellbrook in Southwestern Buckeye League play. They went on the road for a “spring break” trip to Illinois where they won two of three games, including a third straight shutout to open the trip.
Eaton played a pair of games against Bellbrook on Monday and Wednesday, March 27 and 29. The Eagles defeated Bellbrook on the road on Monday, 10-0. The two teams faced off again on Wednesday with Eaton shutting out Bellbrook again, this time 5-0.
On Monday, Trevor Pittman threw a complete game shutout (5 innings) allowing just two hits while striking out three and walking just one.
Bradley Curry led the offense going 3-for-4, while Donnie Nicodemus and Colton Gray each had two hits. One of Gray’s hits was a 2-run home run.
“We played well,” Eaton coach Patrick Flanagan said. “We jumped out to an early lead in the first inning and never looked back.
“Trevor was efficient and we played defense. Bellbrook is a good team that doesn’t make too many mistakes so we had to do our jobs and play well to win.”
In the Eagles’ second game versus Bellbrook, Bradley Curry pitched a one-hit shutout. He pitched seven innings allowing just the one hit while striking out eight and walking one.
“This was the best I have ever seen Bradley Curry throw,” Flanagan said. “He located his fastball very well and his changeup was outstanding.”
Blake Curry sparked the team offensively with three hits. Gray and Lew Bowser each had two hits.
“We had some production out of the bottom three of our lineup which really helped us out.” Flanagan added.
The Eagles travelled to Illinois for a trio of games on Friday and Saturday. They opened the trip with another shut-out win, defeating Salem High School, 3-0. This time, it was Nicodemus getting the start. The Eaton senior threw 5 1/3 innings without giving up a run and striking out eight.
Ghye Wilson and Pittman closed out the game on the mound, preserving the shutout – neither game up a hit in the final two innings of the game.
Blake Curry again led the offense with two hits.
On Saturday the team split a pair of contests, dropping the first game against Benton Consolidated, 5-2. They bounced back in the afternoon with an 11-2 win over Hamilton County.
The newly implemented SWBL schedule has most of the league games played consecutively within a few days of each other – one at home, the other away. Eaton was scheduled to play Franklin on Monday and Tuesday, April 3 and 4. They will play Brookville on Monday and Wednesday the following week.
In between, Eaton will host a double-header with Twin Valley South in non-league action Saturday, April 8.
Eaton looks to challenge for another Southwestern Buckeye League division title after sharing the championship with Monroe and Oakwood last season. All three teams ended with a 9-3 mark in league play.
In other SWBL Southwestern Division play, Franklin also opened the season 2-0, defeating Valley View in back-to-back games.
