Saturday, March 09, 2002
Bears Split Conference Openers with Blue Hose
Hickory, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne College baseball team split the first two games of a three-game series with conference-foe Presbyterian College on Saturday afternoon at Bears Field.
The
Blue Hose jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after three innings
and cruised to a 14-3 victory in game one. The Bears responded
with six late-inning runs to capture game two. In the second
game, Bear senior Craig Sizemore batted 0-for-2 with
two walks to end his 46-game hit streak. The Bears move to
17-6, 1-1 in South Atlantic Conference play, while
Presbyterian's record now stands at 9-14, 1-1. The teams
finish the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Bears
Field.
Blue Hose junior pitcher Richard Barkley, who improved
to 2-0 on the season, stifled the Bears offense for most of
game one. He left the game after giving up two runs on six
hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings. The Blue Hose
bats were hot early. Junior Matt Warren doubled down
the left field line to score senior Keagan Broussard in
the first inning, and two batters later, sophomore Heath
McCutcheon singled home Warren to give the Blue Hose a 2-0
lead after the first.
Presbyterian added four more runs in the third. Broussard and
sophomore Kevin White scored on a double by McCutcheon.
The Bears pitcher, freshman Justin McLeymore was
relieved by junior Matt Howell after giving up a single
to junior Kenny Campbell to give the Blue Hose a 3-0
lead with only one out in the top-half of the third. Following
at sacrifice bunt by junior Tombo Hite, freshman Jake
Lunnen hit a single to right center to drive home
Campbell. Howell picked off Lunnen at first to end the top of
the third, but the damage had been done as the Blue Hose
pushed four more runs across the plate on five hits to take a
6-0 lead. The Bears finally got on the scoreboard in the
bottom of the fourth when Sizemore scored on a single up the
middle by freshman J.R. Hopf. Sizemore reached base on
a one-out single to extend his hit streak to 46 games. The
Blue Hose scored eight more runs in the final four innings to
make the final score 14-3. Blue Hose lead-off man, senior Chris
Turco batted 3-for-5 with two runs scored, Broussard hit
2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and White batted
3-for-6 with one run and one RBI. Warren hit a 3-run homer in
the eighth while going 2-for-5 with four RBI and two runs
scored. Lunnen gave up one unearned run on four hits in the
final two innings for the Blue Hose. For the Bears in
game one, Sizemore went 2-for-5 with one run and senior Joe
Nichols batted 3-for-4 with a run scored. Senior Paul
Pope had two hits and an RBI, while Hopf had a hit along
with the Bears other RBI. Five Bear pitchers completed the
nine inning first game. Most notably, Howell struck out six
while allowing two runs on seven hits in three and two-thirds
innings.
In
game two, the teams exchanged second-inning runs with White
scoring on a ground out by Campbell in the top-half and Pope
singled home Hopf for the Bears in the home-half. After
scattering six hits in four and one-third innings, Blue Hose
senior pitcher Mark Dudley could not get another out.
He gave up five hits and five Bear runs before being replaced
by Lunnen. With five runs in the inning, the Bears gained 6-1
lead after five. White added some fireworks for the Blue
Hose in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run to deep
center that closed the gap to 6-3 going to the bottom of the
sixth. In the home-half of the sixth, the Bears added an
insurance run when sophomore Dustin Day singled to
right to drive home Nichols. Senior pitcher Israel Campbell
struck out the side in the top of the seventh to seal the 7-3
victory for the Bears. The Bears righty gave up five hits and
three runs in his second complete game of the season. Campbell
moved to 2-0 on the season with two saves. The Bears
offense in game two came from senior Chip Bradford who
batted 3-for-4 with a run scored, Nichols who went 2-for-3
with two runs, and Hopf who batted 2-for-3 with two runs and
two RBIs. Junior Ryan Mumy also fueled the Bears charge
in game two going 1-for-3 with one run scored and an
RBI. Sizemore, who reached base on two walks, scored the
other L-R run. White finished game two batting 1-for-2
with two runs and two RBIs, while Warren added one hit and a
run for the Blue Hose. Dudley combined with Lunnen and
sophomore Travis Hill to complete the six-inning
pitching effort for Presbyterian. Dudley struck out six Bear
batters but was charged with six earned runs. Dudley moved to
3-1 on the season with the loss.