Baseball Loses Double-Header at Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, N.C. – Mars Hill's baseball team lost a double-header at Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday afternoon. The Lions fell to 16-26 overall and 9-15 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Bears improved to 16-28 on the season and 10-18 in the league.

Game 1: L-R 6, MHU 1

Evan Rogers, David King and Phillip Carroll tallied two hits apiece for the Lions in the game. Rogers added a double while King added an RBI. Dale Innes took the loss (4-4) for the Lions on the mound throwing seven innings.

Brantley Rumford led the Bears offensively going 3-4 with two runs scored. Ivan Vieitez was 1-4 with a homerun and two RBI. Eric Ryan threw 6.2 innings scattering eight hits to obtain the win (2-4) on the mound for L-R.

The Bears jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on five hits. The inning was highlighted by a two-run homerun from Vietez. Rumford crossed the plate in the second inning to extend the Bears advantage to 5-0 on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Walker.

A fielder's choice hit by David King drove in Caleb Harbin to score the Lions' only run of the contest. The Bears scored an insurance run in the eight frame when David Newcomer crossed the plate on a fielder's choice to make the final tally 6-1 in favor of the hosts.

Game 2: L-R 4, MHU 0

Vieitez (4-5) threw his second shutout on the year, a seven-hitter, to go along with four strikeouts as the Bears completed the sweep of the Lions.

Lenoir-Rhyne's Brandon Walker hit an RBI double in the first inning before Matthew De La Rosa added a two-run single in the fourth frame to lead the Bears offensively.

Mars Hill's Caleb Edwards also went the distance despite the loss. Edwards (5-4) allowed three earned runs in addition to four strikeouts in the losing effort. Tommy Scala went 3-3 with a double to pace the Lions at the plate.

Mars Hill will play at Limestone on Monday, April 14. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m.