The Goshen Eagles advanced to the second round of the Class 2A state playoffs for the first time under head coach Robby Kinsaul when they swept Keith 11-4 and 12-2 on Friday afternoon.

Not only was this the first round one victory under their head coach, it’s their first playoff series win since 2003.

“It’s a great feeling, especially for our nine seniors,” Kinsaul said. “I am so proud for them. It’s a really good feeling. I am just so happy for them and the rest of the guys on the team.”

Even though the the offense combined to score 23 runs in the first two games, it was the pitching that shut down Keith to a tone of just six runs.

Dalton Bunce got the ball for the Eagles in game one. The senior pitched all but the last two innings before giving way to Blake Childs.

“Bunce threw the ball well in the game,” Kinsaul said. “His pitch count got up. With how the game was going, I just felt like he threw enough pitches.”

After throwing just 15 pitches over his two innings of work, Childs was sent back out to pitch game two.

“The way he was throwing, I let him continue on to the second game,” Kinsaul said.

Childress threw the first four innings.

The Eagles finished with a combined 22 hits in the first two games. In game one, the Eagles finished with 11 hits led by Childs and Brock Snyder who finished with three hits. Bryan Galloway and Taten Phillips each had two hits.

In game two, the Eagles finished with 11 hits led by Snyder, who again finished with three hits in the contest. Azavion Rogers finished with two hits.

“It’s kind of weird,” Kinsaul said. “Even though we won big, it was still kind of frustrating because our timing was still off. We fought through it and we had a lot of hard-hit balls.”

With the win, the Eagles await the winner of Ariton and Horseshoe Bend.

“We are 2-0,” Kinsaul said. “The new season started today. We are just proud to be 2-0 and we are excited to have the opportunity to advance and still be playing baseball.”