The Eastside Eagles varsity baseball team traveled to Morgan County Monday night for a rematch against the Morgan County Bulldogs.

Just five days earlier the Eagles dispatched the Bulldogs by run-ruling them, but this time was a different story altogether. Morgan County made a statement early, posting four runs in the first inning. That ended up being enough for a 4-3 victory over the Eagles.

Eastside starting pitcher Chase Raines issued a pair of walks to the top of the Bulldogs’ order and the middle of the order took advantage of the opportunity by stringing together a double, a home run and a single, driving in four runs for the early lead.

The score remained 4-0 through five innings as Raines settled in and kept Morgan County from increasing its lead.

Raines exited at the 4-2/3 mark, finishing his night allowing five hits and two walks while recording two strikeouts.

Dustin Kerbow came on in relief to get the final out of the fifth inning, andthe Eastside offense struggled to get anything going despite the steady pitching performance, scattering three hits from Hunter Ballard, Austin Holloway and Chase Raines over the first five innings.

The Eagles scratched out a run in the sixth with Holloway reaching on his second single of the night before touching home on a Peyton Pallay base knock.

Eastside kept itself in the game with Hank Steele facing

the minimum as he pitched a scoreless sixth inning.

The Bulldogs gave the Eagles a chance to come back in the top of the seventh with a trio of walks that loaded the bases, and Eastside capitalized on a Morgan County throwing error that allowed two runs to score. With the score at 4-3 and runners at second and third, Steele was unable to capitalize at the plate and the game came to an end.

Eastside returns to action on Saturday at home, hosting cross-county rival Alcovy at 1 pm.