ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson baseball team nearly erased a seven-run deficit over the final two innings and had the tying run just 90 feet away, but the Trojans were unable to complete the comeback, as Bluefield State held on to win the series finale, 10-9, Sunday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
Anderson slipped to 1-2 on the early season, while Bluefield State moved to 2-1 with the victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Bluefield State 10, Anderson 9
Grad student Jordan Montgomery was 2-for-2 on the afternoon, with a run scored and an RBI, while also drawing a pair of walks. Junior Kye Andress posted a pivotal two-RBI single in the ninth inning and finished the day with three RBI. Senior Justin Fox drove in a run and crossed the plate three times, while senior Carlos Hernandez posted AU's first extra-base hit with an RBI-double in the eighth inning. Senior Luke Poole notched the Trojans' second double of the eighth inning and scored a run, with freshman Braeden Harrison adding a bunt single in the ninth and scoring a run.
PITCHERS
The Trojans saw nine pitchers take the mound on the afternoon, with junior Landry Borden absorbing the loss in relief after allowing three runs on one hit and issuing two walks, while striking out one batter in the top of the sixth inning.
Bluefield State hurler Jordan Livingston earned the win after tossing 7.1 innings and surrendering four runs on four hits, while walking three batters and striking out three. Sophomore Jason Fernandez collected the save for the Big Blue after getting the final two outs of the afternoon. He walked a batter, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter, but retired two of the three batters he faced.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Trojans got off in similar fashion as Saturday's twin bill, as they grabbed an early, 1-0, lead in the bottom of the opening inning without benefit of a base hit, then built a two-run lead in the bottom of the second when Montgomery led off with a walk and scored on Van Ness's clutch two-out single to right field.
Bluefield State evened the score on junior Cole Cote's two-run triple in the fifth frame and looked like they had broken the game open with a six-run sixth inning.
With the Trojans managing just one baserunner over the next two innings, it looked grim for the Black and Gold after the Big Blue added another run in the eighth to claim a 9-2 lead.
But the Trojan bats finally came alive in the bottom of the eighth, with AU sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four runs, courtesy of a pair of doubles, two singles, a pair of wild pitches and a walk.
The Big Blue scored what turned out to be the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth, on lead-off hitter Tahir Meulens two-out triple to right field that plated pinch-runner Eric Green.
Trailing by four runs heading into their final at-bat, the Trojans batted around and scored three times. The big blow came off the bat of Andress, who singled sharply back up the middle with one out to plate both Harrison and Fox and get AU within one run. The Hendersonville, N.C., native eventually reached third, with LeGrand representing the winning run at second with two outs, but both were left stranded.
STAT OF THE DAY
A combined 42 players saw action on Sunday afternoon, including 14 pitchers.
NOTABLES
• AU leads the overall series, 3-2.
• Fox leads the Trojans with a .429 batting average after three games.
• Andress owns a .385 batting average following the season's opening weekend and has already recorded two multi-hit games.
• Andress has hit safely in all three games.
• Bluefield State went 22-27 overall last season, while posting its first 20-win season in school history a year ago.
• The Trojans are playing 16 of their first 20 games in the Electric City.
UP NEXT
AU welcomes Southern Wesleyan to the Electric City for a midweek matchup, Tuesday afternoon. First-pitch vs. the Warriors at Memorial Stadium is set for 4 p.m.
