BREVARD, N.C. – Behind a season-high 19 hits, the Anderson University baseball team opened a three-game South Atlantic Conference series by knocking off Brevard, 11-6, Friday afternoon at Gil Coan Field.
Anderson improved to 11-26 overall and 7-12 in the conference with its second win in three decisions and will be bidding to claim its third SAC series win in the last three weeks with at least a split on Saturday. Brevard fell to 9-28 overall and 2-14 in the league with its 13th loss in 14 outings.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Senior Avery Sneed led the Trojans' offensive attack by going 4-for-6 at the plate, with three singles and a double. Freshman Dillon Carpenter slugged his team-leading sixth home run of the season and added a third-inning single. Junior William Thomas was 3-for-6, with three singles and scored three times. Sophomore Jackson Strange added a double a single and a walk, while freshman Avery Green posted a pair of singles in four at-bats. Junior Zach McIlroy was 2-for-4, with an RBI, while freshman Joseph Strange added a pair of singles and a walk. Junior shortstop Tyler Miller notched two singles in six trips to the plate.
Sophomore John McMicking earned the start and went 5 1/3 innings on the mound, while surrendering three runs on eight hits. The right-hander fanned five Tornados and issued just two free passes. Senior right-hander Ryan Owens captured his third win of the campaign in relief after allowing three runs on four hits. The native of Boca Raton, Fla., tossed 3 2/3 innings, while striking out one and walking three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Trojans jumped on top early, with three runs in the top of the first inning, with Miller leading off the contest with a single through the left side and went to second when Green followed with a bunt single. Thomas reached on a fielder's choice and Miller later scored on a wild pitch, with Thomas moving into scoring position. AU capitalized on another Tornado miscue with Thomas crossing the plate for the Black and Gold's second run of the inning and Jackson Strange's single up the middle brought home Dillon Carpenter, as AU built a 3-0 advantage.
Brevard countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on the strength of two doubles, a walk and a sacrifice fly.
Thomas led off the third inning with a single and later scored on senior Xavier Peralta's bases-loaded sacrifice fly, giving the Trojans a 4-2 advantage. But the Tornados responded with another run in the bottom of the inning to trim AU's lead to 4-3.
The Trojans rebuilt their lead to two in the fifth, when Sneed led off with a double to center and McIlroy came through with a clutch two-out single up the middle. But Brevard responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to knot the score at five apiece, before Carpenter belted his two-out, two-run shot to give AU some breathing room with a 7-5 advantage in the eighth. The Tornados pulled within 7-6 in the bottom of the frame, before AU erupted for four unearned runs in the top of the ninth to secure the win.
STAT OF THE DAY
The 11 runs scored marked the most by the Trojans this season.
NOTABLES
• The two teams combined to strand 25 runners on the afternoon – AU (12) and Brevard (13).
• Trojan leadoff hitters reached base in seven-of-the-nine innings.
• Thomas leads AU with 19 multiple-hit games this season.
• Miller has 14 multi-hit games this season and Carpenter has 12.
• Miller and Joseph Strange each extended their hitting streaks to five games.
• Miller has reached base safely in six straight games and Joseph Strange has reached safely in five consecutive games.
UP NEXT
The Trojans and Tornados will wrap up their three-game set with a doubleheader slated to get underway at 1 p.m. Saturday.
