March 30, 2008

Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Downs Mars Hill, 12-4, To Salvage Series

Bears score 11 straight runs en route to the league road victory

Mars Hill, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne College Baseball Team (19-21, 9-6) defeated Mars Hill College (24-16, 6-8), 12-4, Sunday afternoon at Henderson Field to salvage the three-game South Atlantic Conference series between the two schools.

Down 4-1 after one inning of play, L-R reeled off 11 straights runs on its way to the victory.

After Lenoir-Rhyne senior outfielder J.D. Harrison (Winter Haven, Fla./Polk CC) hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning, Mars Hill countered with four runs in its half of the first highlighted by a three-run home run from Brian Williams (Orlando, Fla.).

However, the Bears tied it at four with three runs in the top of the second inning and took the lead for good on junior first baseman Zachary Glass’ (Salisbury, N.C./Salisbury HS) RBI single in the fourth frame.

A two-run single by sophomore second baseman Hank Wofford (Clover, S.C./Clover HS) was part of three-run seventh inning for L-R as the Bears scored seven runs in the final three innings of play to make it a 12-4 final.

Harrison led the way for the Lenoir-Rhyne, finishing four-for-six with three runs batted in, while redshirt freshman catcher Brian Dice (Hickory, N.C./Western Carolina Univ.) added three hits and two RBI.

L-R senior Jesse Beane (Collettsville, N.C./West Caldwell HS) improved to 4-1 on the year after pitching five scoreless innings while senior Josh Keller (Claremont, N.C./Methodist Coll.) picked up his third save of the year.

Mars Hill’s Brandon Van Popering (Charlotte, N.C.) fell to 4-3 with the loss.

Lenoir-Rhyne next hosts Limestone on Tuesday beginning at 6 p.m.

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