HICKORY, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (32-13) suffered an 8-5 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne (28-19) Tuesday afternoon in a mid-week regional contest at Durham Field.
The Bears received home runs from Zach Evans (Brant, N.Y.) and Tyler McPeak (Denver, N.C.) as Lenoir-Rhyne avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs.
McPeak and Cole Laskowski (Lancaster, N.Y.) – who hit the game-winning, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning – both finished with three runs batted in while Tyler Parks (Sicklerville, N.J.) (3-2) earned the victory in relief for Lenoir-Rhyne. Brynden Rodriguez (Apple Valley, Calif.) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the year.
Barton was led by sophomore second baseman
Salvatore Laimo (Philadelphia, Pa.) with two runs batted in and junior outfielder
Evan Harding (Clayton, N.C.) added an RBI double in the losing effort. Barton senior
William Leonard (Roxboro, N.C.) fell to 2-1 after being tagged with the loss.
Barton returns to Conference Carolinas play this Friday when the Bulldogs host Chowan beginning at 3:00 p.m., while Lenoir-Rhyne takes on Mars Hill in Mars Hill, N.C., on Friday at 2:00 p.m.
