Senior pinch hitter Tim Blankenship broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a leadoff home run, and the UMW baseball team added two more runs in the inning to defeat third-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University, 7-4, on Monday afternoon at V. Earl Dickinson Stadium. The Eagles improve to 13-5 on the season, and run their win streak to seven straight.

Eastern Connecticut opened the scoring with a run in the second, and added one in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead. The Eagles roared back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the score. Andrew Gerhart led off with a double and scored on a single from Cooper Fulton. Jacob Christenbury reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on another wild pitch. Ty Lowe scored an RBI single, and Ryan Schwarz doubled to drive in another run.

The score stood tied at 4-4 until the bottom of the eighth, when Blankenship led off with a pinch-hit home run. Gerhardt singled and scored on a hit from Burke Steifman, and Christenbury scored on a wild pitch.

Gerhart had a single and double, and Bobby Ayscue and Christenbury had two hits for UMW. Lowe gained the win in relief, allowing no runs on one hit in 2.1 innings, with one walk and two strikeouts.

The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Bridgewater College at 3:00 p.m.