Baseball Splits SAC Double-Header with Bears
Bueker sets new school record
MARS HILL, N.C. - The Lions' baseball team split a South Atlantic Conference double-header with visiting Lenoir-Rhyne Sunday afternoon at Henderson Field. MHC is now 22-26 overall and 11-16 in the SAC. L-R took their season record to 13-34 and 7-19 in the league. Michael Bueker broke the school's single season hit record today. Bueker has 86 hits on the year. The old record of 85 was held by Joe Castagner in 2005.
Game 1: MHC 8, L-R 7
After a scoreless first inning, Anthony Sully hit a
solo homerun to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Bueker singled in the
bottom of the second inning to drive in Evan Holton and Christian
Diaz and the Lions led 2-1. Coty Pate hit a two-run homer in the
third to extend the Lions' lead to 4-1. After the Bears scored a
single run in the fourth, MHC added two more in the bottom half of
the inning on three hits to lead 6-2.
The Bears then scored five runs on the same number of hits to take a 7-6 lead in the top of the fifth. Dan Catalano accounted for three of the runs with a homerun to left field. The Lions answered scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good. Bueker and Dalton recorded the RBI in the fifth frame.
Bueker had two hits and three RBI to pace the Lions at the plate. Greg Smith picked up the win (4-4) while Tony Hearrell notched his fifth save on the season. Sully went 3-4 to lead the Bears offensively. Brandon Padgett took the loss (3-4) throwing a complete game for L-R.
Game 2: L-R 12, MHC 11
Brian Dice hit a three-run homer in the Bears first
at-bat to give L-R an early 3-0 advantage. Michael Brittian then
singled up the middle in the bottom half of the first to plate
Rusty Smith and Hardee to bring the Lions within one run.
L-R then added four runs on five hits in the third inning highlighted by a three run homer from Stephen Andrews. MHC scored two runs in the fourth inning on five hits to trim the deficit to 7-4.
The Bears scored another pair of runs in the fifth frame on three hits and two Lion errors to take a 9-4 advantage. The Lions' continued to fight back as they added three runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to 9-7 in favor of the visitors.
A five hit sixth inning provided the Bears with two runs to lead 11-7. Pate homered in the bottom half of the sixth to bring MHC within three runs of the Bears.
After L-R scored a single run in their last at-bat, MHC made the game exciting scoring three runs before the Bears could get the final out and leave Mars Hill with a 12-11 victory. Brittian had another two-RBI single in the inning.
Stephen Arcieri led the Bears going 4-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Sully had three hits and a double while Andrews recorded three RBI and a homerun. Dice also had three RBI and a homer. Ryan Jones picked up the win throwing 0.1 innings in relief. Ryan Wiese pitched the final out for L-R to pick up his first save on the season.
Brittian led MHC with four RBI on two hits. Pate went 4-4 with a double and a homerun. Tim Crawford took the loss (1-6) on the mound for the Lions.
MHC will host Young Harris College on Monday. The first pitch is
set for 3 p.m. at Henderson Field.
