HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Anderson dropped both ends of a South Atlantic Conference baseball twin bill with Coker, Sunday afternoon at Tom J. New Field. The Trojans dropped the opener, 5-4, in extra innings and fell, 11-4, in the nightcap.
With the sweep, Anderson slipped to 4-5 overall and 3-5 in the league, while Coker improved to 3-5 and 3-1 with its third consecutive win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Game #1
Coker 5, Anderson 4 (9 innings)
Senior Trevor Weisner was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, while senior Nick Vella went 1-for-3, with an RBI. Sophomore Justin Fox added an RBI-triple, with freshman Brayden Owens posting a single and driving in a run in four trips to the plate. Senior Nick Vella was also 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Senior Joseph Cottone, Jr. earned the start on the mound and scattered six hits over six innings of work, while allowing four runs. The left-hander from Bethpage, N.Y., struck out seven batters and walked just one. Senior Christian Carpenter (0-1) absorbed the loss after surrendering one run on one hit in 2 1/3 innings of work. He fanned four batters and didn't issue a walk.
Game #2
Coker 11, Anderson 4
Owens was 2-for-3, with a pair of singles and a run scored in the nightcap, with Fox and freshman Kevin Sosa each going 1-for-3. Vella added a double and a walk in four trips to the plate.
Freshman Landon Henley (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits in relief. The right-hander struck out two batters and didn't issue a walk in 2 1/3 innings of work.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1
The Trojans struck first with a solo run in the top of the second inning when Owens' two-out single to left field plated Weisner with the game's first run. But the Cobras answered quickly and claimed a 2-1 lead on Cory Listing's two-run homer over the fence in left-center.
Coker boosted its lead to 4-1 with two more runs in the third inning, but wouldn't score another run for six innings. The Trojans cut the deficit in half with an unearned run in the fourth when senior Davis Goodyear led off the inning with a walk and eventually scored following a single by Weisner and an error by the Cobras.
Anderson forced extra innings by scoring solo runs again in both the sixth and seventh innings. Weisner came through with a clutch two-out single in the sixth, with Fox following with his first triple of the season down the right-field line. Freshman Jackson Van Ness singled with one out in the top of the seventh, moved to second on Kohns' sacrifice and scored from second on Vella's single down the left-field line.
Carpenter came on in relief of Cottone in the bottom of the seventh and retired the Cobras in order to send the contest into extra innings.
Following a scoreless eighth inning, the Cobras' Lake Lyband was placed on second to start the inning and moved to third on a sacrifice. He crossed the plate with the winning run on Reilly Hall's infield single.
Game 2
Coker scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings to stake a quick 4-0 lead, before the Trojan bats came alive in the fourth inning and AU scored four runs on three hits. With no outs and the bases loaded, junior Dalton Shaw was hit by a pitch to drive in AU's first run of the frame. Freshman Kevin Sosa then drove in a run when he bounced out to the right side and two batters later Vella laced a double to the gap in right-center to score both Shaw and Brayden Owens and knot the score at 4-4.
But the Cobras countered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and added four more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
STAT OF THE DAY
Trojan pitchers struck out 16 batters and issued just three walks in the two games.
NOTABLES
• Freshman Brayden Owens was 3-for-7 on the day, with an RBI and a run scored.
• Justin Fox and Nick Vella are each on a three-game hitting streak.
• Vella and Fox have each reached base safely in all nine.
UP NEXT
Anderson will get back on the diamond, Wednesday when the Trojans play host to Peach Belt Conference-foe Georgia College. First-pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
