ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The 13th ranked NC Wesleyan College Baseball team used their offense to sweep East #2 seed William Peace in the first round of the USA South Tournament on Sunday afternoon from Bauer Field. Wesleyan rallied from behind in each game to win 9-6 in game one and 10-8 in game two.
The two wins improve the Bishops to 31-6 on the season and advance them to the tournament finals next weekend where they will host West top seed LaGrange College. Times and Dates TBD.
Peace got out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning off Bishop senior starter Derrick Carter before junior outfielder Zach Lyon drove in fellow outfielder Drifton Padgett on a single in the third for Welseyan's first run. Junior SS Nate Hibbs then tied the game in the fourth with his solo home run to left field. Padgett's RBI double in the 6th then gave the Bishops their first lead of the game.
However, after Carter had held the Pacers scoreless for three straight innings, WPU finally got to him in the 7th as his pitch count hit 130 pitches. Freshman reliever Danny Thompson then came on to replace Carter with two on and no outs in the 7th and battled his control at the start as he walked in a run before getting out of the jam with the Bishops down just 4-3.
Wesleyan then rallied like they've done all season to score 5 runs in the 7th. The scoring began with Pennington coming in to tie the game on a bases loaded knock from senior RF Alec Titmus. A bases-loaded walk to Padgett then followed to give the Bishops the lead before freshman 3B Tyson Bass' bases-clearing double then gave Wesleyan an 8-4 lead and was the big hit the Bishops were searching for.
After a Peace two-run homer in the 8th made it 8-6, Wesleyan would add an insurance run in the bottom half on a Davie Morgan RBI single before Thompson closed it out in the ninth to pick up the win improving to 4-1 and give Wesleyan the 1-0 series lead.
Carter threw 6-plus innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits with 5 walks and 8 strikeouts while Thompson threw the final three allowing two runs on only one hit with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts. Recording two-hit games were Pennington, Hibbs, and Padgett.
GAME 2: NCWC 10, WPU 8
Titmus led the Bishops to a comeback win in game two going 3 for 4 with a home run and 5 RBIs while infielders Bass and Hibbs also each recorded two-hit games with Bass also driving in two runs.
Peace jumped in front early as they scored 4 runs off game two starter Kevin Williams. However, Williams then settled down to throw four consecutive scoreless innings to allow the Bishops to slowly creep back into the game. Wesleyan then began to chip away with three runs in the third including an RBI single from Bass before an error from Peace in the 4th allowed DH Jackson Murray to score from third to tie the game at 4. Titmus then hit a two-run homer over the Bauer Field sign in left field to give Wesleyan their first lead of game two at 6-4 in the 6th.
Peace then rallied themselves to score two runs in the 6th off Williams and a solo home run in the 7th off reliever Drew Tubb to regain the lead at 7-6.
Wesleyan then scored four in the 8th to go back ahead to stay and lead 10-7. Titmus hit a huge go-ahead two run single driving in Hibbs and Morgan before Bass' RBI triple to right scored Titmus. Bass then scored on a wild pitch for the 10th run.
Junior reliever Zach Woolard then came on in the 9th to pick up his second save striking out Peace for the win. Williams struck out seven over his 6 innings.