Baseball Sweeps Bruins
The Lions’ baseball team swept a double-header from Piedmont International Wednesday afternoon at Henderson Field.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' baseball team swept a double-header from Piedmont International Wednesday afternoon at Henderson Field. Mars Hill improved to 14-20-1 while the Bruins fell to 2-29 on the season. Game two was called due to darkness after the conclusion of the top of the sixth inning.
Game 1: Mars Hill 8, Piedmont International 6
Daniel Vitello went 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI to lead the Lions offensively. Barrett Hennings followed with a double and two runs scored. Cody Cline added a double and a RBI. Devin Mangum picked up the win throwing 2.2 innings in relief. Troy Hall recorded his third save on the year pitching the final inning allowing no runs.
Colin Geier led PIU going 1-for-2 with a homerun and two RBI. Emanuel Corujo followed going 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI. Kyle Reynolds suffered the loss (0-5) on the mound for the Bruins.
Mars Hill scored four runs in the second inning on two hits and one Bruin error and they would never trail again. Adam Plouffe, Vitello and Christian Stampler each had an RBI in the at-bat.
Vitello gave the Lions a 6-0 lead in the third inning by hitting a two-run homerun to left field. The Bruins scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning before Josh Hall scored Austin Treadway on a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-2.
The Bruins pushed across another run in the top of the fifth inning before Cline doubled to plate Vitello in the bottom half of the inning and bring the score to 8-3. The Bruins would not die scoring three runs in the sixth inning on the same number of hits before the Lions finally shut them down. Hall threw well for the Lions facing the Bruins in their final at-bat to seal the win.
Game 2: Mars Hill 9, Piedmont International 0
Bryson Bailey pitched a shutout to obtain his third win (3-1) of the year. He threw six innings scattering five hits while striking out five batters. He allowed only one extra base hit.
Hennings led the Lions at the plate in the nightcap. He went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Chandler Young followed going 2-for-2 with a double and three runs scored.
Jake Grubesic led the Bruins at the plate going 2-for-3. Darin Spivey took the loss (0-8) on the mound for PIU.
Mars Hill scored at least one run in every at-bat. Matt Honeycutt hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to send Brendan Emery to the plate and then in the second inning, Young scored on a passed ball.
Hennings hit a line drive to center field in the third inning to plate Emery and then Young crossed the plate on a Bruin error in the fourth frame to give the Lions a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Mars Hill exploded for five runs on three hits and one Bruin error to lead 9-0. The inning was highlighted by a RBI single from Honeycutt and a two-RBI single by Hennings.
Bailey faced the minimum in the top of the sixth inning to seal the win for the Lions.
Mars Hill will play a three-game SAC series at Carson-Newman this weekend. The teams will play a single game on Friday at 3 p.m. and then meet for a double-header on Saturday at 12 p.m.
