Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Cory Guinn
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College baseball team suffered a setback in its push towards the Conference Carolinas Tournament, dropping a doubleheader 7-5 and 11-1 to visiting Pfeiffer University on Saturday afternoon.
Barton fell to 21-15 overall on the season and 6-11 in league play, moving back to seventh place in the standings with just a month remaining on the schedule. Pfeiffer improved to 16-17 with a 7-10 mark in the league to move one spot ahead of BC to sixth.
Game One: Pfeiffer 7, Barton 5
The Falcons began the game with one run each in the first, second and third innings to build an early 3-0. However, Barton plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, including a three-run home run from redshirt-senior Chris Davis that pushed his team ahead by one.
After a scoreless fifth, Pfeiffer scored once more in the sixth to tie the game at 4-all and took the lead with a run in seventh on a solo home run from Jordan Eckard, the team's second of the game.
Back-to-back RBI doubles for Pfeiffer extended the lead to 7-4 before a solo home run from Barton senior Tyler Garrett in the eighth brought the final run across the plate for the Bulldogs.
Sophomore Dylan Ward (6-3) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs on 12 hits with eight strikeouts over eight innings on the mound. Junior left-hander Andrew Davis threw the final inning of relief, striking out one batter without allowing a hit.
Six different Bulldogs recorded a hit in the series opener, including senior Calvin Hawke who hit a double in the fourth inning to become the 10th member of Barton's 200-hit club.
Game Two: Pfeiffer 11, Barton 1 (Seven inn.)
The Barton offense went cold in the second game of the day, totaling just six hits as Pfeiffer recorded 11 runs on 14 total hits, including five doubles.
Pfeiffer scored its first run of the game in the second inning before opening up a six-run advantage with five runs in the fourth inning of play.
Barton's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore Ricks Dearing grounded out to second base, scoring fellow Troy Maslowski from third.
Five more runs spread across the sixth and seventh innings for Pfeiffer put the game out of reach for BC as Falcon starter Jordan Toney went the distance for his fourth win of the year.
Junior Trent Fennell (5-1) was hit with his first loss of the season after giving up seven runs on nine hits with six strikeouts and four walks in five innings of work. Sophomore Ryan Pifer and redshirt-junior Josh Mims combined to allow four runs on four hits over 1.2 innings of relief, while freshman Landry Moore allowed one hit and struck out a batter in 1/3 of an inning out of the bullpen.
Dearing was 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI, while Garrett and Hawke each had a double in the contest.
Barton and Pfeiffer will begin the series finale tomorrow afternoon at Nixon Field with a single game scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
