MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.– Eastern University Baseball scored 14 times in a run-shortened eight-inning win over Rivier. The Eagles (5-4) had four multi-run innings and led 12-2 after five innings. Robert Del Buono hit for the cycle with three RBIs, three runs scored, and a stolen base. 

Brennan Moloughney struck out five Raiders in five innings to pick up his first career win, but it was the Eastern bats that were the difference. Eight of Eastern's 17 hits went for extra-bases. Del Buono, Brian Lang, and David Sharp each homered in the win. 

The Eagles set the tone with a four-run first. Del Buono drove in Trent MacDougall with a double. The lead grew to 3-0 on a JJ Matos double to right center that drove in Del Buono. Lang scored the final run of the inning on a Leyton Bamesberger ground out. 

In the bottom of the inning, the Raiders (3-3) converted a lead-off double into run, and Moloughney needed to retire an extra hitter after a two-out strike-out victim reached on a wild pitch. The sophomore left-hander did not let a ball get out of the infield in the second to get the Eagles to the top of the third with a 41 lead. Del Buono hit a two-out triple in the second inning. 

Lang homered to lead off the third, and Sharp added a two-run shot with two outs to move the Eagles into control of the game with a 7-1 lead. The Raiders scored a run in the third on a pair of ground ball singles in the bottom of the inning. Moloughney allowed only an infield hit through the fourth and fifth innings. He allowed only five hits and two walks in his five innings.  

MacDougall doubled and scored on a Meehan single in the fourth. MacDougall then drove in a pair of runs with a double in a two-out rally in the fifth. After two fly balls to tart the inning , Sharp and Jaden Taylor each rolled balls through the infield. Del Buono closed in on his cycle with a home run to left center for a 12-2 lead. The long shot is his second this spring and third of his career. 

Chris Humphreys came on in relief to start the sixth. The first-year right-hander from Connecticut attacked the Rivier hitters and allowed two runs on three hits over three innings of work to pick up his first career save. 

Rivier picked up two runs in the sixth, but Humphreys had good command and seemed in control. The two remaining points of drama were whether Del Buono could reach safely to complete his cycle and if the Eagles could get the difference to ten to end the game early. Del Buono reached on an infield single in the eighth. he and Brian Lang later  scored on another Matos double. for the ten-run differential. The first-year catcher has nine RBIs through eight games ths spring. 

Del Buono's cycle is the only one in at least the last 20 years of Eastern baseball.

In last year's 23-13 loss at Neumann the Eagles had a pair of hitters get close. Thomas Koslusky went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple, and Justin DiCesare went 4-for-5 with two home runs and a double. Matt McHale had a four-hit day with a triple and a home run in a 12-7 win at York in April of 2021. When Eastern beat Chatham 17-3 in 2019, Jake Jones was a triple short of a cycle on a four-hit day. In March of 2009, Andrew Reynolds went 3-for-4 with all three extra-base hits in a seven-inning loss to Manchester College.

The Eagles will close out their spring break trip with an early-morning test against Houghton University tomorrow at 9:00 am. The Eagles picked up an 8-3 win over the Highlanders on Tuesday.