Baseball Sweeps Bears on Senior Day

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Lions swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball double-header from Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday at Greenwood Field. Mars Hill improved to 20-20 overall and 9-16 in the SAC. The Bears fell to 25-21 on the season and 11-18 in the league.

Prior to the second contest of the day, Mars Hill recognized their nine senior players: Zach Bumgarner, Zach Davies, Caleb Harbin, Zach Honeycutt, Jacob Rand, Andy Runion, Tommy Scala, Nick Villalobos and Shawn Weber.

Game 1: Mars Hill 9, Lenoir-Rhyne 4

Rayshelon Carolina, Tommy Scala and Jacob Rand led the Lions in game one recording three hits apiece. Carolina added two doubles and the same number of RBI while Scala tallied a homerun, a double and three RBI.

Ryan Perkins led the Bears going 3-5 with a run scored while Will Thompson was 2-4 with a RBI.

Mars Hill scored three runs in the fourth and six runs in the sixth to take a 9-4 victory in a game that was suspended due to rain.

In the MHU first, Carolina reached on a one out double, advanced to third on a Dalton Eisenbath infield single and scored on a Dylan Powers sacrifice fly. The Lions added a run in the second as Jacob Rand reached on a one out base hit and scored on a Carolina double.

Lenoir-Rhyne tied the contest with a pair of runs in the fourth. Matthew De La Rosa led off with a walk and scored on a Ivan Vieitez groundout. Ryan Perkins singled and scored on a Will Thompson single.

In the home half of the fourth Nick Villalobos led off with a double down the left field line, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Rand base hit. Rand would score on a Carolina base hit, with Carolina crossing the plate on a Eisenbath single.

David Newcomer led off the ninth inning with a single and advanced to third on a Josh Murphy base hit. Marcus Shoemaker's pinch-hit single plated Newcomer, with Murphy scoring on a Matthew De La Rosa sacrifice fly for the game's final run.

Carolina went three-for-four with a single, two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI. Scala went three-for-five with a double, home run, single, run scored and three RBI. Rand went three-for-four with three singles, three runs scored and an RBI. For Lenoir-Rhyne, Ryan Perkins went three-for-five with three singles.

Andy Runion claimed the victory (1-3) as he allowed two runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Ivan Vieitez took the loss (5-6), allowing five runs on 11 hits with a walk and strikeout in four innings.

Game 2: Mars Hill 10, Lenoir-Rhyne 3

Evan Rogers, Dylan Powers and Carolina notched three hits each to pace the Lions at the plate. Rogers and Carolina both had a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Powers added two RBI. Hunter Boydston threw a complete game scattering six hits while striking out three batters to obtain the win (3-1) on the mound.

Brantley Rumford and Matthew De La Rosa led Lenoir-Rhyne with two hits apiece in the loss. Both of De Le Rosa's hits were homeruns. Matt Sullivan suffered the loss (3-1) on the mound for the Bears.

Mars Hill plated four runs in the first inning and three in the second as part of a 10-3 win.

Lenoir-Rhyne got on the board in the first inning on a Matthew De La Rose solo home run. In the Mars Hill first, Ray Carolina reached on a one out single and scored on a Dylan Powers single. Dalton Eisenbath scored on a Phillip Carroll sacrifice fly, with a Nick Villalobos single plating Tommy Scala and Powers.

Christian Stampler led off the second with a double and scored on a double by Evan Rogers. Rogers scored on an Eisenbath single before a Powers base hit scored Carolina.

The Lions added two runs in the fifth on a Carolina double and an Eisenbath sacrifice fly. In the Lenoir-Rhyne sixth, De La Rosa hit a two-run home run to bring the visitors to within six, 9-3. Scala led off the home half of the sixth with a single, stole second and scored on a Carroll single for the game's final run.

The teams will conclude the three-game SAC series with a single game slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday.