By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PEMBERVILLE — The Eastwood baseball team dominated Cardinal Stritch at home on Saturday, producing a 12-0 win over five innings for the team’s third win in as many days.

“Three in three days,” Eastwood coach Kevin Leady said. “I loved our energy.”

The victory, which closes out the team’s first week since a devastating outfield collision on April 15 against Lake, gives the Eagles three consecutive victories by a combined 29-2 score.

That stretch includes a pair of league wins over Oak Harbor and Fostoria after dropping their first game of the season to Otsego on Monday.

“I just feel like we’re past what happened last week,” Leady said of his 13-1 team. “The sails were really out of us. The positivity, the energy, the smiles … I feel like we’re getting back as close to as normal as possible that we can.

“Our kids’ mindset is completely different now. We’re back to just playing baseball and having fun.”

Saturday represented Eastwood’s sixth double-digit shutout victory of the campaign. It featured a dominant two-hit shutout from Kadyn Donnell, who allowed just two hits and a walk with five strikeouts in a complete game.

“Donny went out and pounded the zone on a tough day,” Leady said. “Throwing into the wind can move your ball all over the place. He kept battling, battling and battling, and we got some really good swings at the plate.”

Colton Woodward led the offensive attack with a 2-for-3 performance out of the leadoff spot, which included two runs and four RBI. Drew Kachmarik went 2-for-2 with two knocked in from the cleanup hole, and Paul Lautzenheiser added two hits with a run scored out of the seven-hole.

The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead through one behind RBI doubles from Donnell and Kachmarik, the second of which scored a pair of runs.

In the third, Eastwood pushed across eight runs.

Bryce Miller was hit by the pitch, and Brock Messinger walked on back-to-back plate appearances with the bases loaded for a 5-0 lead.

A ground ball up the middle from Woodward in the next at bat became an error, and some aggressive baserunning scored all three runners.

The Eagles added the final three runs on a passed ball, wild pitch and an error.

A sacrifice fly from Woodward in the fourth closed out the game’s scoring.

The Eagles produced five extra base hits in the game, including a triple from Lautzenheiser. Badenhop swiped a team-high two of Eastwood’s four stolen bases.

“(The top of the lineup) can really, really swing the bat,” Leady said. “We feel blessed one through nine, but when those top few guys get on, the machine gets moving. It’s nice that those guys in the bottom half of the order can really get on because if your one hole can get four RBIs, it says a lot about the bottom half.”

The next week is a big one for Eastwood with at least four NBC matchups, including another meeting with Lake on Friday in what could be a battle of the league’s only one-loss teams.

Cardinal Stritch fell to 8-5 with the loss.