COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Niagara Purple Eagles fell short in the second game of their weekend series against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles with a 9-0 loss on Saturday afternoon.
 
“”We ran into a buzz saw on the mound today, he shut us down pretty good,” head coach Rob McCoy said.  “I thought we pitched okay, but you have to score to win.  Tomorrow we still have a chance to win the series with Championship Sunday.”
 
It was a pitcher’s duel through the first three innings as Jim Fort (0-2) gave up one hit and David Hess (1-0) gave up only one.  The Golden Eagles (3-3) broke through in their half of the fourth with a solo homerun. The Purple Eagles (1-5) got two consecutive outs to start the bottom of the fifth, but a two-out error put a man on base and led to four unearned runs.  From there Tennessee Tech added  three more runs over the last three innings to come away with a 9-0 win.
 
Michael Fuhrman (2-for-4) and Thomas Rodrigues (2-for-3) each finished with two hits.  Fort took the loss after giving up five runs, four unearned, in 4.2 innings. The senior issued one walk and struck out four.
 
These teams will be back on the diamond for the rubber match of the series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for noon.