The No. 19 ranked Eagles defeated the Case Western Reserve Spartans 48-3 last night in their wrestling dual at Kate’s Gymnasium.

After losing the first match, the Eagles came back winning their next five matchups. Bringing the Eagles this success included a few freshmen from the roster.

Freshmen Lawrence Dudgeon and Christian Price won by fall, 21-2 and 9-2, in their matchups. Dudgeon pinned his Case Western opponent in 3:29 as he tallied his first season pin. Price, also winning by pin, took down his opponent in only 2:09.

“We really wanted to get those guys some experience out here,” said head coach Josh Hutchens. “So if you can get a match up like that and finish that way it goes a long way with confidence.”

Senior Zeb Beam won in a 12-3 major decision in his quick match versus Case Western’s Connor Gordon.

Junior Jordan Murphy defeated the Spartans’ Nick Lees 17-6 in a major decision.

Murphy maintains the most wins (13) for the Eagles this season. He began his season winning seven of his first nine matches and although he dropped the next four decisions, Murphy redeemed himself tonight with a win that set him back on track.

Senior Nigel Cross ended the evening with the defeat of Gavin Dersh-Fisher 9-0 with just two seconds left in the period. This win makes Cross 5-4 for the season.

“A win in college wrestling is definitely hard to come by and it was a good win tonight,” said Cross. “Today I just wanted to go out there and get my W; do what I had to do to win.”

There were also three forfeits throughout this dual giving AU’s Joe Brant and Chandler Minnard an automatic two wins and Case Western’s Johnny Maurice an automatic victory.

Minnard is seventh in the 133-pound weight class and Brandt is third in the 197-pound weight class.

The Eagles will now look to face Lake Erie at home on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“This was a warm up for that match,” said Hutchens. “We wanted to do everything for that match during this one. We will watch the film and there will be some things that we are going to work on, but the energy and effort is what we are looking for.”