[Baseball] Knights Drop DH at Bluefield
BLUEFIELD, Va. - The St. Andrews University Baseball team fell short in their conference doubleheader with Bluefield college (Va.) on Friday falling 3-0 in game one and 8-7 in game two.
Game three of the series on Saturday was then postponed due to snow and will be made up later on this season.
GAME 1: Bluefield 3, SAU 0
The Knights had trouble finding their offense in game one as they managed just four hits all game off BC starter Jackson Keene.
Junior starter Zach Mathes (JR/Collinsville, IL) (2-2) also pitched very well on this day only allowing four hits as well, but gave up two early runs over the first two innings and three runs overall (2 earned) over 7 strong innings. He also stuck out a season-high 8 batters in the game as well and he now has 34 strikeouts on the season while he is holding opponents to just a .195 batting average against him.
Sophomore Reliever Davis O'Brien (SO/Kernersville, NC) also threw a scoreless 8th inning as well.
Offensively, SAU was led by a two-hit game from senior 3B Nolan Pierce (SR/Laurel Hill, NC) and singles from junior LF Noah Whalen (JR/Buffalo, NY), and sophomore RF Maliq Johnson (SO/Red Springs, NC). Pierce is also now hitting a team-leading .400 on the season with 34 hits, including 16 in his past 8 games.
GAME 2: Bluefield 8, SAU 7 (7 innings)
St. Andrews then broke out offensively in game two scoring 7 runs on 11 hits including two home runs and five extra-base hits, but it was all for naught as defensive errors and pitching let them down in the 8-7 loss.
After the game was tied at 1 heading into the 4th inning, the Rams then got on the board scoring 5 runs in the 4th off senior starter Trevor Maly (SR/Channahon, IL) who ended up throwing 4 innings allowing 8 hits and 6 runs, but none of them were earned due to errors. He also walked two but struck out 8 as well as he now leads the team with 38 Ks on the season.
Senior reliever Zach Saylor (SR/Jamestown, NC) (4-3) then came in to relieve him in the 5th and after a scoreless frame, gave up the game-winning two runs in the bottom of the 6th. This is just after SAU had scored 4 runs in the top half to come back to take the lead at 7-6 after being down 6-1 at one point.
SAU was led offensively by 6 different players with hits while four had multi-hit games with Pierce leading the way with his 3 for 4 day. Sophomore 1B Chris Stubbs (SO/McColl, SC) also had a big game hitting a career-high two solo home runs, his first two of the season to help bring the Knights back into the game. Outfielders Ryne Dickens (SR/Reidsville, NC) and Johnson also led SAU with multi-hit games as they each recorded two hits each while Whalen and freshman 2B Noah Lawson (FR/Pfafftown, NC) also recoded singles.
Driving in runs other than Stubbs was redshirt freshman outfielder Bryce Dixon (FR/Hamlet, NC) with two RBIs while Whalen, Pierce, and Johnson also drove in runs.
SAU falls to 15-15 overall and 3-8 in the AAC with the tough-luck series loss while Bluefield improves to 13-8 overall and 4-7 in the conference.
SAU will next return home on Tuesday to host D-3 foe, N.C. Wesleyan at 2:00 PM while the JV baseball team will also return home Monday to host D-3 Methodist University at 1 PM.