February 26, 2006

Boxscore

BELMONT, NC—St. Andrews bounced back from getting swept on Saturday by pounding Belmont Abbey 16-4 in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference baseball action on Sunday afternoon in the series finale. The Knights improved to 5-10 overall and 1-5 in the CVAC while the Crusaders dropped to 6-12 and 2-1.

The Crusaders did not have the same bite that they did in yesterday’s sweep and were done in by three big innings from the Knights. Senior starter Brad Smith (Riegelwood, NC) held BAC to three runs (two earned) over 7.0 innings of work.

St. Andrews used four hits, a walk and a hit batsman to grab a 4-1 lead in the second inning. The Abbey battled back in the fourth to get a pair of runs but the teams were scoreless over the next three innings. 

Belmont Abbey got careless in the eighth and the Knights made them pay. A crucial error with runners in scoring position allowed two runs to score to make it 6-3. Another unearned run scored on a throwing error and the sixth run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.

The runs continued in the ninth with St. Andrews using a walk, a hit batsman, five singles and a three-run homer by senior Anthony Mehling (Pottsville, PA) to score its final six runs. It was Mehling’s second blast of the season. The Abbey added a final run in the bottom of the ninth to complete the scoring.

Mehling went 2-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored to lead the Knights. Sophomores Michael Eastwood (Grantsboro, NC) and B.J. Horne (Hamlet, NC) and senior Will Clark (Laurinburg, NC) all had two hits, two RBI and at least two runs scored.

Smith improved to 1-2 on the season while recording four strikeouts. Sophomore T.J. Chrusch (Fleetwood, PA) fanned three in two innings of relief for the Knights.

Nick Popp and Patrick Atwell both had two hits in the game with Popp also driving in a run. Alex Udwari had a hit and two runs scored while Michael Gegorek had one hit, a run scored and one RBI. 

The Knights visit non-conference Methodist College on Wednesday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. before returning home on Thursday, March 2 for a showdown with local rival UNC Pembroke at 2:00 p.m.

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