ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson baseball team rallied from a five-run deficit midway through the game to claim a come-from-behind, 10-6, win over Southern Wesleyan in the season-opener for both teams, Wednesday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium.

"I'm proud of the way the guys fought back after going down early," said Anderson head coach PJ Zocchi. "We started sluggish offensively. I felt our guys wanted to do too much in the box early."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Junior Dalton Shaw led the Trojan attack by going 3-for-5 on the day, with a two-RBI double and a pair of singles, while junior Chandler Castleberry was 1-for-3, with a three-run triple and a pair of walks. Senior Nick Vella finished the afternoon with a double, two walks, two RBI and also scored once. Senior Cody Adams scored twice after drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch in four trips to the plate. Trevor Weisner was 1-4 with a single and two runs scored. Junior Jacob Kohns finished 1-for-3 with a single and a pair of RBI

PITCHERS
The two teams combined to use 14 pitchers on the day, with sophomore left-hander Andrew Imperatore earning the start on the mound for the Trojans. Sophomore Drew Hallgren captured the win after allowing one run on three hits, while walking one and fanning one in the sixth inning. Senior Christian Carpenter closed out the top of the ninth for the Trojans by striking out the side.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Southern Wesleyan threatened in the top of the second frame after a pair of Warriors drew full-count walks, but SWU was unable to capitalize as senior right-hander Sebastian Martinez ended the threat with his second strikeout of the afternoon.

AU senior Tyler Berry beat out an infield single with one out in the bottom of the frame for the Trojans' first hit of the afternoon, but he wound up stranded at second.

Following a pair of Trojan miscues, the Warriors got on the scoreboard in the next inning with a one-out triple to right - and a ground out to the left side of the infield put the visitors up 2-0.

The Warriors increased their advantage to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the fourth and a solo run in the fifth, before the AU offense came alive up and the Trojans batted around in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Kohns grounded out to the left side to score sophomore Justin Fox, who had earlier recorded an infield single and moved to third on another single by Weisner and an error by the Warrior defense. Two batters later, Shaw notched a single to plate the Trojans' second run of the contest. Vella followed by going the other way on a 1-2 pitch and laced a two-out, two-run double to left field, which brought home both Shaw and Adams and trimmed SWU's lead to just one.

While Southern Wesleyan countered with another solo run in the top of the sixth to increase its lead to 6-4, AU continued its offensive onslaught by scoring five runs with two outs in the bottom half of the inning. Shaw ripped the first pitch he saw down the left-field line for a bases-loaded, two-RBI double and two batters later, Castleberry tripled to the gap in right-center to give the Trojans a 9-6 advantage – their first lead of the day.

The Black and Gold built a 10-6 cushion with another run in the seventh to cap the comeback and close out the scoring, with Carpenter striking out all three Warrior batters in the top of the ninth.

"We scored 10 runs with two outs," added Zocchi. "Two-out runs can change the momentum of a game fast. I'm extremely proud of the effort and adjustments the offense made to create some big innings with two outs. On the mound we had some big shut-down innings. I'm just glad our guys were able to compete against another uniform."

NOTABLES
• Each team recorded nine hits.
• AU stranded eight runners, while Southern Wesleyan left nine runners on base.
• Each team recorded a pair of doubles and a triple.
• AU leads the overall series 37-19
• The Trojans have won seven of the last nine matchups.
• The Trojans have won six consecutive season openers.

UP NEXT
Anderson will get back on the diamond this weekend when Lincoln Memorial invades the Electric City for a pair of South Atlantic Conference doubleheaders. First-pitch Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.