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Box Score 2
by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Barton College picked up its first Conference Carolinas win of the season with an 11-9 victory in game one of Saturday's doubleheader but King College used a late rally for a 7-2 win in the second game to earn the split at Nixon Field.
The Bulldogs (5-8 Overall, 1-4 Conf.) and Tornado (11-7, 2-3) will play the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday at Noon. Barton wore pink jerseys, hats and socks during the twin bill in support of Breast Cancer Awareness and sold the tops as a fundraiser for the cause.
GAME ONE: Barton 11, King 9
The Bulldogs scored the game's last seven runs in the opener to rally for an 11-9 victory. Senior Christian Oliver tossed 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relieve to give Barton a chance and the Bulldogs lineup belted 14 hits to complete the comeback.
Trailing 9-4, Cuthrell hit a towering three-run homer over the 390-foot label on the center field fence to begin the retaliation in the fourth. Senior Phillip Williams nearly followed Cuthrell with his own bomb to center but had so settle for a double off the wall. Williams then scored on a single by sophomore Avery Harper to complete the four-run fourth.
A two-run double by Bunce in the sixth propelled the Bulldogs into the lead, 10-9. Bunce took the 1-2 offering the opposite way for the go-ahead double that landed just inside the right field line. Cuthrell tacked on an insurance run in the seventh with a single for his fourth RBI of the contest.
Oliver leveled his record at 2-2 with his strong relief appearance. The righty only surrendered four hits over 5 2/3 while recording five strikeouts. Williams started strong for the Bulldogs but got ruffed up for nine earned runs between the third and fourth innings. Williams had a game-high six strikeouts including fanning the Tornado in order in the first.
Barton jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The frame was highlighted by a two-run hit to the right field gap by Harper and an RBI-single by senior Zac Crumpler.
The Tornado pushed in front with six runs in the third and three more in the fourth. Junior Hunter Smith connected for a three-run dinger during the comeback and sophomore Stephen Mullins provided three RBI.
Cuthrell and Harper combined for six hits and seven RBI on three base hits apiece. Bunce extended his hit streak to six games with a pair of hits. Williams, Crumpler, and sophomore Mitchell Wheeler also hit safely two times each.
GAME TWO: King 7, Barton 2
Barton was one out from completing the twin bill sweep but King was able to plate six runs on its last at-bat to squeak out a 7-2 triumph. Junior Tyler Gaby had the big two-out single that knocked in the game-tying run before the Tornado went on top with a bases loaded walk drawn by senior Josh Huffman. Senior Hunter Smith then drilled a grand slam into the batter's eye behind the center field fence to extend the final margin of victory to five runs.
The Bulldogs once again jumped out early with a run in both the first and second. Williams knocked in the first BC run with a sac fly to right that junior Dillon Rudio tagged up on from third. Junior Phillip Cotton was then able to get down a successful suicide squeeze bunt in the second that plated Crumpler.
King junior stater Alex Gonzalez settled down after the first two innings and only allowed two hits over the final five innings for the complete game win. Gonzalez (3-1) scattered six total hits and only issued one walk. Barton had the bases loaded in the first with no outs for a potentially big inning but after Williams' sac fly, Gonzalez wiggled out of the jam with a 4-6-3 double play. All five of Gonzalez' strike outs came in the final five frames.
Junior Landon Weitekamp cut the Tornado deficit in half, 2-1, with an RBI-single in the fourth before King completed the rally in its last opportunity. The visitors outhit Barton, 11-6.
Rudio tallied two of the Bulldogs six hits including a two-out triple in the fifth.
Barton starter Kyle Norville hurled into the seventh inning but was pulled after surrendering a one-out double to senior Brad Blanton on his 115th pitch. Senior reliever Mitchell Frazier was unable to close out the win and was tagged with the loss after giving up the game-tying single and loading the bases with a hit batsman and two walks that eventually all scored.
