Pennington's Big Day Helps Baseball Split with Brevard

Brad Pennington, courtesy of Carl Lewis
Brad Pennington, courtesy of Carl Lewis

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College Baseball team split their conference doubleheader with Brevard College (NC) on Saturday afternoon falling 8-2 in game one before dominating 12-2 in game two.

NCWC 12, BC 2

Senior 2B/C Brad Pennington went 4 for 6 in game two with a home run , 3 singles and 2 RBIs as part of the 17-hit Bishop attack. Five other Bishops recorded multi-hit games in the win including sophomore 1B Jackson Murray, senior C/DH Nick Beaver, senior LF Moses Vigo, and freshmen CF Drifton Padgett and 2B Josuet Santiago. Murray also went 3 for 3 in game one as he totaled 5 hits on the day.

Max Johnson's RBI double and Santiago's RBI single got the Bishops out to a 2-0 lead early before Wesleyan took advantage of some BC errors and wild pitches to lead 5-0 after 5 innings. Pennington then led off the 6th with a solo home run that was crushed over the Bauer Field sign in left field. RBI singles from Vigo, Santiago, Padgett, Pennington, and Titmus then put it out of reach making it 12-1 Bishops after 8 innings.

Junior starter Kevin Williams got the win on the mound throwing 6 shutout innings allowing just a single hit on a walk and 4 strikeouts. A three-strikeout scoreless performance from senior reliever Noah Shrock then followed Williams before sophomore Zach Woolard finished the game with 2 innings and 2 Ks.

BC 8, NCWC 2

The Tornados got out to a 5-0 lead off Bishop starter, Derrick Carter, through 5 innings before adding two more in the 7th on a home run off senior reliever Michael Smith. Wesleyan scored one run each in the 8th and 9th on a Titmus RBI fielder's choice and a Padgett sacrifice fly.

Carter lasted 4 and 1/3 innings allowing 5 runs on 7 hits with 5 walks and six strikeouts while Smith tossed 2 and 2/3 innings allowing just one hit and two runs with 2 strikeouts. Senior Reliever Chris Sullivan also tossed a scoreless inning.

Murray's 5 hits on the day upped his team-leading average to .488 on the season while Beaver recorded a double in each game of the DH as well.

Wesleyan sits at 3-9 overall and 1-4 in the conference heading into the final game of the series on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM.