Baseball Pounds King
The Lions defeated King 20-8 in non-conference baseball action Wednesday afternoon at Henderson Field.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions defeated King 20-8 in non-conference baseball action Wednesday afternoon at Henderson Field. The Lions improved to 8-20-1 overall while King dropped to 18-12 on the season.
Matt Honeycutt and Christian Stampler led the Lions' offensively. Honeycutt went 4-for-5 with two homeruns and five RBI. Stampler was 2-for-5 with a pair of homeruns and four RBI. Josh Hall went 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI. Cameron Howell picked up the win (1-0) on the mound pitching in relief.
Ashton King led the Tornado going 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI. Christian Lindsey suffered the loss (2-2) on the mound for King.
The teams traded homeruns in the first inning. Tony Valdes hit a leadoff homerun to right field to start the game and then Matt Honeycutt hit a homerun to centerfield in the bottom of the first inning.
J.P. Castaneda scored on a fielder's choice in the top of the second inning to give King a 2-1 lead. Mars Hill scored four runs in the bottom of the second frame to enjoy a 5-2 advantage. Brett Brubaker hit a two-run homerun in the at-bat.
King regained the lead in the third inning (7-5) scoring five runs on four hits highlighted by a three-run homerun by Ashton King. The Lions answered scoring five runs on six hits in the fourth inning to regain the lead (10-7) for good. Honeycutt belted his second homerun of the day in the at-bat and Christian Stampler followed Honeycutt hitting a solo homerun to center field.
A RBI single by Kevin Barbato in the top of the sixth inning drove in Valdes to cut the Lions' lead to 10-8. Mars Hill sealed the win in the seventh inning scoring seven runs on four hits. Honeycutt singled to plate two of the runs before Stampler belted a three-run homerun to left-center and then Josh Hall hit a two-run homerun to right field to make the score 17-8. The Lions added three runs in the eighth inning to make the final tally 20-8 in favor of the hosts.
Mars Hill will host Coker in a three-game South Atlantic Conference series this weekend. The teams will play a single game on Friday at 2 p.m. and then meet for a double-header at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
