ANDERSON, S.C. – North Greenville junior Connor Grant's two-out, two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning snapped a 5-5 deadlock and the Crusaders held off Anderson, 7-6, in nonconference baseball action, Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

Anderson (2-2) dropped its second consecutive decision, while North Greenville improved to 2-1 on the early season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Junior outfielder Matthew Overton was 2-for-4 on the afternoon and also reached base on a walk, while driving in two runs and crossing the plate once. Senior William Thomas notched a pair of singles and scored once, with freshman Chandler Castleberry getting hit by a pitch twice and scoring both times. Freshman Chase Stephens drove in two runs with a fourth-inning double.

Junior Christian Hendrix (0-1) suffered the loss after surrendering two runs on one hit and fanning three batters, while walking one.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Thomas opened the bottom of the first for the Trojans by beating out an infield single and later wound up at third base on a failed pickoff attempt. Two batters later he gave the Trojans a quick one-run lead when sophomore Dillon Carpenter lofted a sacrifice fly to right field.

North Greenville knotted the score on junior Jack Morris' leadoff homer over the left-field fence in the fourth inning, while the Trojans recaptured the advantage with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Dillon Carpenter led off by ripping a single back up the middle and AU recaptured the lead when Castleberry was hit by a pitch and Overton followed with another single up the middle to bring home Carpenter. Jackson Strange then bounced into a fielder's choice which plated Castleberry with AU's third run of the game and two batters later, Stephens laced a two-RBI double to left field, boosting the Trojans' lead to 5-1.

North Greenville countered with one run in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh to climb back within 5-4 and took the lead with a three-run eighth inning. AU sliced the deficit in half when Castleberry was hit by a pitch to lead off the home half of the eighth inning and crossed the plate on Overton's first double of the season.

The Trojans loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning, but were unable to push across the tying run.

NOTABLES
• North Greenville outhit the Trojans, 13-8.
• William Thomas, Tyler Miller and Chase Stephens each extended their hitting streaks to four games.
• William Thomas leads the Trojans with six hits on the season, while Chase Stephens and Tyler Miller each have five hits.
• Matthew Overton leads AU with a .444 batting average.

UP NEXT
The Trojans have a five-day layoff before traveling to Belmont Abbey on Tuesday, Feb. 13.