WISE, Va. – The Anderson baseball team fell short of claiming its third straight weekend conference series, as UVA Wise rallied to score five late runs and claimed a 6-4 win over the Trojans, Sunday afternoon at Stallard Field.
Anderson slipped to 17-15 overall and 6-6 in league play, while closing out a four-game road swing and a three-game South Atlantic Conference series. UVA Wise improved to 12-20 and 3-9 with three victories in its last four decisions.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Junior JC LeGrand was 2-for-3, with a solo home run and a single, while drawing a pair of walks, scoring twice and driving in a run. Junior Kye Andress added a pair of singles and a double, while Luke Poole was 2-for-4 at the plate, with a single and a double. Senior catcher Carlos Hernandez posted two singles and scored a run.
Cole Davis (1-1) absorbed the loss after giving up a run on two hits.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After Saturday's doubleheader saw the two teams combine for 60 hits and 45 runs, Sunday afternoon's series wrap-up was a relatively tame outing that featured just seven hits and one run through five innings.
The Cavaliers' Cole Harness – the national Hitter of the Week in late February - gave the home team a 1-0 lead with his second home run in as many days in the bottom of the second inning.
But the Trojans stirred things up a little with five hits and three runs in the top of the sixth inning. JC LeGrand evened things up by leading off the frame by belting his second homer of the season beyond the fence in left-center, while Carlos Hernandez, Luke Poole, Gray Wells and Kye Andress followed with four straight two-out singles to give AU a 3-1 advantage.
UVA Wise responded by loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but the Trojans' Jackson Herring came on in relief and fanned the next two Cavalier batters to shut down the threat. And the Trojans strung together three hits in the top of the seventh to plate another run and built a 4-1 lead.
The Cavs countered in their half of the inning and knotted the score by plating three runs, then took a late 6-4 lead by adding two more runs in the bottom of the eighth.
LeGrand led off the top of the ninth with a walk to get the tying run to the plate, but the Trojans came up empty in their final at-bat.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE GAME
The Trojans matched their season-high with five errors.
NOTABLES
• Carlos Hernandez is on a 13-game hitting streak.
• Luke Poole is riding an eight-game hitting streak.
• The teams stranded 22 total runners.
• The Trojans and Cavaliers did not meet last season.
• UVA Wise leads the brief overall series, 3-2.
• The Cavaliers joined the SAC in 2020.
• AU has won six of its' last nine league contests.
• AU has won eight of its last 11 decisions.
UP NEXT
The Trojans will return to the Electric City for a brief one-game midweek homestand against ninth-ranked Newberry on Tuesday. AU will be looking to earn a split of the season series after suffering an earlier, 20-17, setback to the Wolves.
First-pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Anderson Memorial Stadium.
