Baseball Defeats Lenoir-Rhyne in Series Opener
Teams combine for 39 hits in the game
MARS HILL, N.C. - The Lions' baseball team jumped out to an 11-1 lead but had to fight off a strong comeback by Lenoir-Rhyne to obtain a 17-14 victory Friday afternoon at Henderson Field. MHC improved to 21-25 overall and 10-15 in the SAC. L-R fell to 12-33 on the season and 6-18 in the league.
Christian Diaz and Evan Holton each went 4-5 at the plate to lead MHC offensively. The duo recorded four and three RBI in the win, respectively. Holton added a homerun. Michael Bueker, Dalton Hardee and Michael Brittian posted three hits apiece. Tyler Stephenson threw five innings scattering four hits to pick up the win (4-5) on the mound.
Chris LaVenia and Brian Dice had three hits each to lead the Bears at the plate. Dice hit two homeruns and had four RBI in the game. Stephen Andrews also recorded four RBI in the loss. Chris Hicks took the loss (2-5) for L-R on the mound.
Dice hit a solo homerun in the Bears first at-bat to give L-R a 1-0 lead. MHC answered scoring six runs in the bottom of the first on five hits and two L-R errors. Brittian and Holton each had two-RBI singles in the at-bat.
MHC added two runs in the third inning on three hits and one error before recording three runs in the fourth inning to lead 11-1. Holton hit a two-run homer in the fourth.
The Bears scored three runs in the fifth frame to trim the deficit to 11-4 but again the Lions answered plating five runs in the bottom half of the inning on six hits. Brittian and Diaz both hit two-RBI doubles in the inning.
The Bears then exploded for six runs on five hits in the sixth inning highlighted by a two-run homerun by Dice, his second homerun of the day. Tyler Reboulet singled up the middle to drive in Holton and end the Lions scoring in the contest.
After scoring a single run in the eighth inning, L-R scored three runs in last at-bat to make the final tally 17-14 in favor of the Lions. The Bears recorded four hits in their last at-bat. The teams combined for 39 hits in the contest.
Due to the threat of inclement weather in the Mars Hill area on
Friday night and Saturday, the teams have pushed their
double-header back to Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is set for
1 p.m.
