Baseball Drops Double-Header to Newberry
The Lions lost a baseball double-header to SAC rival Newberry Saturday afternoon at Henderson Field.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions lost a baseball double-header to SAC rival Newberry Saturday afternoon at Henderson Field. Mars Hill dropped the first game 10-9 in extra innings and then fell 2-0 in the nightcap. MHU is now 16-17 overall and 5-7 in the league. The Wolves improved to 19-14 on the year, 7-5 in the SAC.
Game 1: NC 10, MHU 9 (10 innings)
Hunter Merrill led the Lions at the plate going 3-6 with three RBI and a stolen base. Daniel Vitello, Travis Owens and Devin Mangum recorded two hits apiece in the game. Mangum added a double and two RBI. Fausto Turro suffered the loss (1-1) throwing the final inning in relief.
Derek Olenchuk led the Wolves offensively going 4-5 at the plate with a double, a run scored and a RBI. Jeff Sneed followed going 3-5 with a homerun and three RBI. Hunter Hill obtained the win (3-2) pitching the final 1.1 innings in relief.
Travis Owens singled to right field in the Lions' first at-bat to plate Daniel Vitello and give Mars Hill a 1-0 advantage. Newberry then scored five runs in the second inning on four hits and two Lion errors. Colin Allman highlighted the at-bat with a two-RBI single. Hunter Merrill singled through the left side to drive in Devin Mangum in the bottom half of the second inning and trim the deficit to 5-2.
Mangum singled to right field in the fourth frame to send Shomarii Thomas to the plate and cut the Wolves advantage to 5-3. In the sixth inning, Mangum hit a double off the left field fence to score Lance Edwards and cut the Wolves lead to a single run (5-4). Christian Stampler doubled in the Lions' seventh at-bat to send Brett Brubaker to the plate and knot the contest at 5-all.
The Wolves extended their lead to 9-5 in the top of the eighth inning scoring four runs on three hits highlighted by a RBI single from Jeff Sneed. The Lions would not die as they scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the contest into extra innings. Brubaker led the at-bat off with a solo homerun to centerfield and then Thomas drove in Stampler on a sacrifice fly to left field. With two outs and two strikes on the board, Hunter Merrill hit a line drive into right field to score Edwards and Travis Owens.
Sneed hit a solo homerun to left field in the top of the tenth inning to give the Wolves a 10-9 lead. Hill retired the Lions in order in the bottom half of the tenth to seal the win for the Wolves.
Game 2: NC 2, MHU 0
Stampler, Owens and Edwards accounted for the Lions' three hits in game two. Alec Bivins took the loss (3-5) on the mound for Mars Hill pitching 6.1 innings scattering three hits and allowing two runs.
Tyler White and Allman both went 1-2 with an RBI to pace the Wolves offensively. Evan Estridge threw a complete game shutout allowing just three hits to pick up his third win of the season (3-1).
Allman hit a double to right-center field in the second inning to drive in Sneed and give the Wolves a 1-0 lead. After four scoreless innings, White singled to left-center field to plate Chase Coker and make the final tally 2-0 in favor of the visitors.
Mars Hill will host Southern Wesleyan on Tuesday, March 28. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
