Baseball Sweeps North Greenville

TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Lions' baseball team swept a double-header from North Greenville Wednesday evening at Ashmore Field. Mars Hill improved to 16-18 overall while the Crusaders fell to 22-20 on the season.

Game 1: MHU 8, NGU 7 (10 innings)

Dalton Eisenbath led MHU at the plate in game one going 3-5 with a homerun, two runs scored and five RBI. Evan Rogers followed with four hits in five at-bats and added a pair of runs scored and a stolen base. Tyler Sides picked up the win (1-0) pitching two innings in relief while Kaleb McCurry obtained his second save on the year throwing the final inning for the Lions.

The Lions scored two runs in the first inning on three hits and one Crusader error. NGU took a 3-2 advantage in the second frame on two hits highlighted by a two-RBI double from Josh Black.

Eisenbath belted a grand slam in the fifth inning to give the Lions a 6-3 lead. After NGU scored a single run in the bottom half of the inning, Alex Zachary hit a double in the seventh inning to score Eisenbath and put MHU ahead 7-4. Unfortunately, NGU tied the contest in their last regulation at-bat scoring three runs on five hits to send the game into extra innings.

Phillip Carroll led the tenth inning off with a single to right and then Lance Edwards moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. With two outs on the board, Johnathan Stamey doubled to center field to drive in Carroll for the winning score. McCurry recorded three consecutive fly outs in the bottom of the tenth inning to seal the win for the Lions.

Game 2: MHU 6, NGU 5

Rogers was 1-4 with a triple, two RBI and a run scored to pace MHU offensively. Carroll followed with two hits and a run scored. Lance Edwards was 1-3 with a RBI and run scored. Zac Brown threw four innings scattering six hits to record the win (5-3) on the mound. Nick Villalobos threw the final inning to pick up his second save of the season.

After Tommy Scala scored on an error in the first inning, NGU scored two runs in the bottom of the first and one run in the second frame to lead 3-1.

The Lions put the game away in the fourth inning scoring five runs on four hits and one Crusader error. Rogers had a two-RBI single in the at-bat.

North Greenville cut the deficit to 6-5 in the fifth inning but Villalobos took the mound for the Lions in the seventh inning and after a lead-off walk, he pitched into a double play and struck out the ensuing batter to seal the win for the Lions.

Mars Hill will host no. 3 Catawba this weekend in a three-game South Atlantic Conference series. The teams will meet for a single game on Friday and then play a double-header at noon on Saturday.