LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – The Covenant College Baseball Team (4-0) picked up a pair of wins over Emory & Henry College (0-5) Friday afternoon, 6-3 and 6-5 in a pair of seven-inning games on the Covenant campus.
Game One – Covenant 6, Emory & Henry 3
The Wasps opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the third inning but the Scots answered in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of their own to make the score 2-2. Covenant took the lead in the bottom of the fourth and Emory & Henry tied things up at three with a run in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth frame, the Scots went ahead for good thanks to a three-run homer by Caleb Bloye to centerfield, holding on for the 6-3 win.
Luke Harvey went two-for-three with two runs scored while Devin Cerrato and Alex Kerr added two hits each for Covenant. Garrett Kriston earned the win, scattering four hits and two earned runs over the complete game, striking out 12.
Sophomore first baseman Carson Bryant (Hickory, N.C.), sophomore centerfielder Josh Macek (Concord, N.C.) and freshman shortstop Gavin Felty (Bristol, Va.) each had a hit and a RBI in the contest. Senior left-hander Aaron Sparks (Troutman, N.C.) took the loss, allowing five earned runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts in five innings pitched.
Game Two – Covenant 6, Emory & Henry 5
The Scots got out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning but the Wasps closed the gap to 2-1 in the second. Covenant pushed the margin back to two runs, 3-1 after the third however a run in the fifth and three in the sixth gave Emory & Henry a 5-3 advantage. E&H took advantage of three base hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly in the frame to manufacture the trio of runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Covenant drew the score to 5-4 and tied things up with a no-out double by Alex Kerr in the seventh. The Scots' winning run came on a single to right field by Trenton Nobles to grab the come-from-behind win, 6-5.
Harvey went three-for-four with two runs and a RBI in the night camp while Kerr had three hits and three RBI. Alec Mitchell picked up the win in relief for Covenant allowing two hits in 1.2 innings pitched.
Emory & Henry sophomore third baseman Holden Watkins (Ridgeway, Va.) notched three hits including a double and added a run and a RBI while freshman second baseman Daulton Horne (Bristol, Va.) had a run, a hit and a RBI. Freshman pitcher Zach Shepherd (Christiansburg, Va.) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on three hits in two-plus innings of work.
E&H and Covenant will complete the three-game set with a nine-inning game on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15