CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A day after posting 16 runs and recording 20 hits in two games, Anderson's offense was limited to just four hits and the defense committed four errors, as the Trojans fell, 13-4, to Queens in South Atlantic Conference baseball action, Saturday afternoon at Tuckaseegee Dream Fields.
Anderson slipped to 21-20 overall and 7-14 in conference play with its first loss in seven decisions, while Queens improved to 25-19 and 14-7 by snapping a three-game skid and earning its second win in five outings.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Carlos Hernandez was 1-for-3 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs with his fifth home run of the season and also reached base on an error in the fourth inning. Tyler Berry was 1-for-1, with a ninth-inning single and scored a run, while William Laffin also posted a ninth-inning single. Jaxon Young was 1-for-3, with a single.
Andrew Imperatore (2-5) suffered the setback after surrendering eight runs (four earned) on seven hits over 2.2 innings on the mound. He struck out three and walked one.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Nick Vella drew a one-out walk in the top of the first inning and scored two batters later when Hernandez clubbed his home run over the center field fence.
Queens first baseman Riley Cheek answered for the Royals with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning to knot the score at 2-2, then the Royals took the lead for good by scoring six runs in the bottom of the third inning by capitalizing on a pair of home runs, including another home run by Cheek.
The Royals added a solo run in the fourth, two in the seventh and three more in the eighth to build a 14-2 cushion, before AU finished out the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the ninth.
STAT OF THE GAME
Cheek finished the game with three home runs and seven RBI.
NOTABLES
• With three league games remaining on the slate, AU trails seventh-place Carson-Newman by 3 ½ games, eighth-place Mars Hill by 2 ½ games and ninth-place Coker by 1 ½ games in the league standings.
• Mars Hill swept the Trojans in late March, while AU swept Coker. The Trojans and Carson-Newman wrap up the regular-season conference schedule with a three-game series next weekend.
• Friday afternoon's twin bill marked the first-ever meetings between the two programs (The Royals started their baseball program in 2019).
• Nick Vella has reached base safely in nine consecutive games.
• Jaxon Young has reached base safely in eight straight games.
UP NEXT
The Trojans are scheduled to play host to Belmont Abbey, Tuesday at Memorial Stadium, while wrapping up their home slate with a South Atlantic Conference series against Carson-Newman on Friday and Saturday. First-pitch against the Crusaders is slated for 6 p.m.
