April 14, 2007

Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

LAURINBURG, N.C.—After honoring five Knights seniors on Saturday’s ‘Senior Day’, host St. Andrews Presbyterian College split a Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference doubleheader against Limestone College on Saturday afternoon at Clark Field. SAPC posted a walk-off 1-0 victory in the first game while Limestone held on for a 10-9 extra-inning win in the second game.

The Knights, who maintain a 14-24 overall record and 4-19 CVAC mark, recognized seniors Ritchie Priest (Elizabethtown, N.C.), Ryan Curley (Emmaus, Pa.), Cliff Allred (Franklinville, N.C.), Adam Stemple (Holly Springs, Ga.), and Mike Mianulli (Ellicott City, Md.) during a pre-game ceremony. The Saints hold a 20-29 overall and 7-15 CVAC record.

The two teams will play the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Game 1: St. Andrews 1, Limestone 0 (11 innings)

St. Andrews took advantage of a pair of errors by Limestone to break a scoreless game in the 11th inning and take the opener 1-0. Sophomore Ivan Rodriguez (New York, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 11th and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior Eric Stone (Laurinburg, N.C.).Rodriguez moved up to third on an error and junior Michael Eastwood (Grantsboro, N.C.) followed with a high-chopping groundball to second base, which was booted allowing Rodriguez to score and end the contest.

The Saints, who had 10 singles but left 10 runners on base, had their best scoring opportunity in the top of the eighth. With no outs and a runner on third, junior Dylan Anthony (Lincolnton, N.C.) flew out to Priest in left field. Senior Paul Irby (Edgemoore, S.C.) decided to tag up from third and try and score the go-ahead run. However, Priest gunned Irby out at the plate with a one-hop bullet to the catcher.

Stone racked up three of St. Andrews seven base hits while Stemple had two hits. Stemple and freshman Adam Traywick (Marshville, N.C.) had the only two extra base hits of the game with doubles in the home half of second.

The contest started out as a pitchers duel between Knights freshman Jordan Cudney (Charlotte, N.C.) and Saints junior Chris Zimmerman (Navarre, Fla.), as each hurler tossed eight scoreless innings for their respective clubs. Zimmerman had four strikeouts while Cudney had three.

Sophomore Ryan Kirkman (Liberty, N.C.) picked up the win in relief for SAPC allowing just one hit in 2 1/3 innings of work. Kirkman recorded a game-high five strikeouts by punching out five Saints.

Game 2: Limestone 10, St. Andrews 9 (8 innings)

After each team traded unearned runs, the Knights grabbed a 3-1 lead in the nightcap with two more unearned runs in the third and held the slim advantage until the fifth.

Limestone exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth to take a 7-3 lead. Anthony started the scoring with an RBI-single. Juniors Phillip Soden (Inman, S.C.) and Adam McSwain (Fallston, N.C.) followed with back-to-back RBI-doubles. Freshman Matt Still added a run-producing triple off the right field fence and senior Matt Craig (Lincolnton, N.C.) capped the outburst with a two-run homer over the left-center field fence.

The Knights battled back and tied the game up with three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. Stone and junior Chad Heckler (Sidney, Ohio) highlighted the fifth by driving in runs with a pair of doubles.

Freshman Alex Ridout (Wake Forest, N.C.) knotted everything at 7-7 with his first collegiate home run. Ridout blasted the solo shot over the left field fence which eventually sent the game into extra-innings.

The game remained tied until Limestone plated three runs in the top of the eighth. Senior Taylor Cook (Austin, Texas) drew a pinch-hit, bases-loaded, two-out walk to start the scoring while Still added two insurance runs with a two-run single on the ensuing at bat.

SAPC did not give in and took advantage of Limestone’s fifth error of the game to score two runs and pull within one, 10-9. However, the rally ended as junior closer Alex Dergins (Morganton, N.C.) ended the game with a groundout for his fourth save of the season.

Junior Brian Baugher (Frederick, Md.) picked up the win in relief of senior Tyler Anderson (Kershaw, S.C.). Both Saints pitchers had four strikeouts. Kirkman (3-7) was tagged with the loss even tough he posted another five strikeouts in just two-plus innings in his second appearance of the day.

Stone finished with six hits on the afternoon after logging another three hit performance in the second game.