ANDERSON, S.C. - After Southern Wesleyan evened the score at 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning, designated hitter LJ Newman blasted an eventual game-winning two-run home run in the bottom-half to propel Anderson University baseball over SWU, 7-5, Wednesday evening at Anderson Memorial Stadium.
With the victory, the Trojans have won four of their last five contests and move two games above .500 to 11-9 overall. The setback for the Warriors drops them to 5-15 on the season as they have now fallen in seven of their last eight games.
Three Trojans posted two-hit performances, as Newman, senior Brett Cash and graduate student Nick Bernardo all tallied a pair of hits for the game, while Newman and Cash each knocked two-run homers and finished the game with two RBI apiece. Bernardo also drove in two runs with a run scoring triple in the second and an RBI single to left field in the third.
As a team, Anderson posted 10 hits, marking the sixth straight game AU has tallied double-figure hits. In addition to the double-digit hit total, the Trojans bumped their team batting average to above .300 on the season (.302).
Freshman right-hander Andrew Dill earned the start for the first time in his collegiate career and finished with five innings pitched while allowing three hits and two earned runs. After Dill tossed four innings of no-hit ball, the right-hander faced problems in the fifth when Warrior catcher Daniel Coleman connected on a two-run home run for SWU's first hit of the contest.
Dill's day was done in the sixth and gave way to sophomore right-hander Austin Smith who completed the inning after allowing three unearned runs, which evened the score at 5-5. In the bottom-half of the inning, after junior first baseman Steven Cooper walked with two outs, Newman sent a 3-0 pitch over the left-center wall to give Anderson a lead it would not relinquish.
The right-handed duo of Mitchell Cooksey and Michael Skelly closed the door on the Warriors by not allowing a SWU hit in the final three innings. By pitching the final two innings, Skelly earned his third save of the season and struck out four Warrior hitters.
Anderson returns to South Atlantic Conference play on Friday when it begins a three-game series with Wingate from Memorial Stadium. The series concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m.
