TIGERVILLE, S.C. – Senior Matt Overton's third hit of the afternoon brought home Daniel Blazejewski with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning and senior closer Christian Carpenter made the one-run advantage stand up, as the Anderson baseball team captured its fourth win in five decisions with a 12-11 win over North Greenville, Wednesday afternoon at Ashmore Park.
"Today was a great start to the week," said Anderson head coach P.J. Zocchi. "Obviously with us only playing today and coming off a loss on Saturday, we knew we had some work to do to prepare for the next steps of the program. We prepared very well on Monday and Tuesday for today. We still have some things to iron out but in all, this was a good team win that took all nine innings. I'm proud of the guys."
Anderson improved to 7-3 on the season with its second road win of the season, while North Greenville (10-2-1), which entered the game ranked No. 7 by Collegiate Baseball and eighth nationally by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) saw its win streak halted at 10 games.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Overton was 3-for-5 on the day, with a double and a pair of singles and also reached on a walk, while crossing the plate three times. Junior Nick Vella was 3-for-4, with three singles and also reached base on a pair of walks, while scoring three times. Junior Chandler Castleberry added a double, a pair of singles and a walk, while driving in two runs and scoring twice. Senior Dillon Carpenter and sophomore Jack Fassino each drove in three runs apiece.
Senior Brent Reynolds (1-0) captured the win after going 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief and fanning one batter. Christian Carpenter earned his fifth save of the season by tossing the final 1 1/3 innings. He gave up two hits and struck out three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Trojans took an early lead with a solo run in the top of the first inning and built a 3-0 advantage by adding two more runs in the top of the third on Fassino's two-out single through the left side. But the Crusaders countered with five runs in the bottom of the third and claimed an 8-5 lead with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth frame to answer AU's two runs in the top of the fifth.
AU batted around in the top of the sixth and erupted for four runs to reclaim the lead and edged out to a 10-8 lead after posting a run in the top of the seventh. North Greenville then rallied with a three-run seventh to set up the Trojans' late-inning heroics.
Fassino led off the eighth by reaching base on a dropped third strike, moved into scoring position on Blazejewski's bunt single to the right side and went to third on an error. Blazejewski swiped second and Fassino scampered home with the tying run on the Crusader's second error of the inning. Two outs later, Will Lindsey drew a walk and Overton followed with his game-winning single to center field that plated Blazejewski.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
The Trojans banged out a season-high 15 hits.
NOTABLES
• Nick Vella leads the Trojans with seven multiple-hit games.
• Dillon Carpenter stretched his hitting streak to 10 games.
• Chandler Castleberry has reached base safely in all 10 games.
• AU improved to 2-0 on the road this season.
• Nick Vella is tied for first in the South Atlantic Conference with a .528 batting average.
• Dillon Carpenter is fifth in the SAC with a .410 batting average.
• Christian Carpenter leads the SAC with his five saves.
UP NEXT
Anderson is slated to play seven of its next eight games in the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium and will open South Atlantic Conference action by playing host to Coker in a three-game series this weekend. First-pitch on Friday versus the Cobras is scheduled for 6 p.m.
