Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Kevin Buczek
BRISTOL, Tenn.-Freshman second baseman Calvin Hawke extended his hit streak to seven games with four total hits for visiting Barton College in a Conference Carolinas baseball doubleheader loss at King University on Friday afternoon.
The Tornado improved to 20-27-1 overall and 10-10 in the league with the 6-5 and 5-1 wins. The Bulldogs dropped to 14-27 overall and 7-12 in the league. The two teams will conclude the three-game series with a single game on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m.
Barton can tie for fifth in the league standings with a win Saturday and with Limestone losing its final two games at Erskine but the Bulldogs will be the sixth seed in the 2014 Conference Carolinas Tournament no matter the results because the Saints won 2 of 3 games from BC in March. Barton will play top-seeded Mount Olive on day one of the double-elimination tournament held at the Burlington Athletic Stadium on Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
GAME ONE: King 6, Barton 5
The Bulldogs scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the eighth to take a late 5-4 lead but a two-run homer by senior catcher J.D. Wallace off Barton junior closer Snooter Merryman in the home half of the eighth rallied King to the dramatic one-run win.
Merryman entered the game with one-out and the potential tying run on second base and was rudely greeted by Wallace, who drilled the first pitch delivered over the left field fence. Wallace's third home run of the season was the first run allowed by Merryman in 11 relief appearances. Merryman (0-1) was tagged with the loss after blowing a save opportunity for the first time in seven attempts.
Barton held its first lead, 2-1, after scoring a pair of runs in the top of the third off a Hawke triple to right field. However, King constructed a 4-2 advantage with one run in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings.
Hawke's third RBI of the contest on a single in the seventh that plated Merryman cut the Bulldogs deficit in half. Barton then took advantage of two Tornado errors in the eighth to grab its second lead. Merryman knotted the score with a well-executed, bases-loaded squeeze bunt. Freshman outfielder Tyler Garrett then knocked in the go-ahead run with a single up the middle that was stopped by a diving second baseman.
Senior Cory Rhodes, a normal starter for King, took the mount in the ninth and retired the Bulldogs in order for his first save. Classmate Ryan Nichols (1-0) picked up the scrap win getting all three outs in the eighth.
Hawke finished 3 for 5 with a triple, three RBI and one stolen base. Garrett matched Hawke with three base knocks and one theft.
GAME TWO: King 5, Barton 1
Rhodes retook the mound after the field was prepped between games and held Barton to just one run over seven innings for the complete-game victory. King supplied Rhodes (5-5) with five runs and the veteran made it stick by scattering eight hits over the scheduled seven-inning contest.
The hosts broke a scoreless game with four unearned runs in the third that featured a two-run double by senior Hunter Smith.
Freshman catcher Jacob Willis helped Barton to an 8-7 hit advantage with three consecutive singles. Willis also broke up Rhodes' shutout bid by scoring on a King throwing error in the fourth.
Barton loaded the bases in the second and could have scored more in the fourth with two in scoring position after Willis scored but Rhodes escaped both times to account for five of the Bulldogs eighth runners left on base.
Senior Tyler Gaby scored a final run for the Tornado in the fifth. Gaby had a pair of hits and two runs scored in both ends of the double dip from King's leadoff position.
