The Utah State University-Eastern Golden Eagles remain fifth place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings after finishing 1-3 in a four game home set with Western Nevada Thursday and Friday.

Welcoming in one of the top two schools in the conference before the Easter break for four games in two days, the Golden Eagles suffered two losses on Thursday. After being shutout in the first game 10-0, the team’s offensive awoke, but still fell short in a 16-8 setback.

“I felt like we didn’t play as well as we should have defensively,” said head coach Scott Madsen. “We kicked the ball a lot and you can’t give a team like that opportunities. They wait for things like that and that’s why they are the number two team in the conference.”

The struggles continued for USU-Eastern Friday afternoon in the first game of the double-header, this time falling 12-5. Despite three straight losses, the team managed to avoid the sweep with an 8-5 victory in the final game.

Freshman Zac Lundell gave the offense a boost finishing 3-4 at the plate with two RBI and one double. Trevor Clingman and Trevor Mlait recorded multiple hits and Ridge Nielson knocked a double and scored two runs.

“We have some kids that were suspended the first day but came back and pitched well the second day,” said Madsen. “We did a good job of battling and that’s what I wanted to see all weekend, but I’ll take it to end the week.”

Freshman Kaidyn Longman registered the win on the hill giving up just six hits and one earned run in four innings of action. Christian Bonilla pitched three innings of relief work, giving up just one hit against 13 different batters.

Now 5-11 in conference play the Golden Eagles trail Salt Lake by one game for fourth, and Colorado Northwestern by two games for third in the standings. USU-Eastern will have an opportunity to chip away at Colorado’s hold on third place when they travel to Rangely for four games Friday and Saturday.

“They’ve got a good coach that has done some great things,” Madsen said when talking about Colorado Northwestern. “They’ve taken three of four from both Salt Lake and CSI, and that’s tough. We’ll have to play really well to get a win.”