Strong Hitting Leads Baseball Over WSSU, 9-6
The Lions’ baseball team defeated Winston Salem State, 9-6 Friday afternoon at Henderson Field.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' baseball team defeated Winston Salem State, 9-6 Friday afternoon at Henderson Field. Mars Hill improved to 13-17 on the year while the Rams fell to 19-10 on the season.
Evan Rogers led the Lions offensively hitting two homeruns and recording three RBI. Dalton Eisenbath and Andy Runion tallied two hits apiece. The duo also had two RBI and a triple each. Nick Villalobos threw the final 2.2 innings to pick up his second win (2-1) on the year.
Ray Crawford went 3-5 with two RBI and the same number of runs scored to pace the Rams at the plate. Conner Andrus also had three hits plus two doubles. Devin McLemore took the loss (1-1) for WSSU on the mound.
The Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead belting four hits in their first at-bat that included a lead-off homerun and two triples. Evan Rogers began the bottom of the first inning hitting a homerun to right field. Jacob Rand then singled up the middle before Dalton Eisenbath tripled to bring him home. After Nick Villalobos walked, Andy Runion hit a triple to drive in Eisenbath and Villalobos.
Rogers hit his second homerun of the contest, a two-run blast to left-center in the second frame to extend Mars Hill's lead to 6-0. The Lions added two more runs in the third inning when a triple by Alex Zachary drove in Dustin Jones and then Zachary later scored on a Ram miscue. MHU took the score to 9-0 in the fourth frame after Phillip Carroll crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
The Rams got on board in the fifth inning scoring on a Lion error. WSSU scored four runs in the sixth inning on four hits and one Lion error to cut the Lions' lead to 9-5. The inning was highlighted by a two-RBI single to right field by Ray Crawford.
Conner Andrus doubled to left field to score Aaron Hatch to bring the Rams within three runs of the Lions (9-6) but that was as close as they would get. Villalobos helped his own cause fielding the last out of the game.
The teams will conclude the three-game set tomorrow with a double-header beginning at 12 p.m.
