Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
by Kevin Buczek
ASHEBORO, N.C.-After dropping the opening game 13-4, Barton College rallied for a 7-5 victory in the nightcap to earn a split against Lenoir-Rhyne University on Wednesday afternoon at McCrary Park, the home stadium for the Asheboro Copperheads of the Coastal Plain Summer Collegiate Baseball League.
Barton snapped a five-game skid in the finale and returns to Wilson to face local Conference Carolinas rival Mount Olive College on the weekend with a 5-11 overall record. The Bears are 4-16.
Senior outfielder Ryan Daughtry led the Bulldogs with five hits on the day including two home runs. Sophomore third baseman Collins Cuthrell followed with four base knocks. Junior first baseman/closer Phillip Williams drove in four Barton runs.
Third baseman Walton Shephard highlighted Lenoir-Rhyne's offense with a home run in each contest. Outfielders Ivan Vieitez and Rai Robinson drove in 11 Bear runs with 6 and 5 RBI, respectively.
GAME ONE: Lenoir-Rhyne 13, Barton 4
The Bears hit three home runs and belted 16 hits to take the first game by nine runs. LR used six consecutive hits in the top of the first to take a 4-0 lead that it would never relinquish.
The designated visitors in game one led 7-0 after four innings before Barton made things interesting with all four of its runs in the bottom of the fifth. Clay Martin ended the Bears shutout bid with an RBI single before Cuthrell knocked in the next Bulldog run with a double. Williams then plated Martin and Cuthrell with a single in the right field gap.
Reliever Aaron Bentley took the mound after Williams' two-run single and quickly got Lenoir-Rhyne out of the jam by inducing a ground ball for a double play before ending the frame with a strikeout.
Bentley then held Barton scoreless in the final two innings to earn his first save of the season. Starter Christian Hicks tossed four scoreless innings with six strikeouts to earn the win.
Robinson drove in all five of his runs in the opener. Robinson, Vieitez, and Shephard all went deep for the Bears.
Williams and Daughtry accounted for four of the Bulldogs nine hits with two each.
GAME TWO: Barton 7, Lenoir-Rhyne 5
Junior catcher Zac Crumpler broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the seventh with a massive two-run homer well over the left-center field fence to complete Barton's rally as the Bulldogs prevented the sweep.
Lenoir-Rhyne put the leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the seventh but Williams took the mound from first base and immediately recorded a 4-3 double play before eventually securing his third save of the season with popup after the Bears put two more runners on base.
Daughtry led off the game with a solo home run as Barton was the designated visitors in the nightcap before LR clawed ahead 5-2 with four runs in the home half of the first and one more in the second.
Daughtry drove in BC's second run in the second with a single before a two-run rocket by Williams in the third and Daughtry's second solo dinger in the fourth knotted the score at 4-4.
After Lenoir-Rhyne scored a total of 18 runs in the first nine innings on Wednesday, sophomore Jimmie Davis toed the rubber for the Bulldogs and shut down the Bears for four plus innings to earn his first collegiate victory. The right-handed Davis (1-1) did not allow a hit and fanned five.
Barton totaled 10 hits with three coming off the bats of Cuthrell and Daughtry.
Daughtry leads the Bulldogs with four home runs on the season.
