March 5, 2006
Monarchs complete sweep over North Carolina Wesleyan with 9-3 victory
Kelly picks up victory in start; Cornelius goes 3-for-5 with four RBIs

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – After winning a doubleheader on Saturday, the Methodist Monarch baseball team made a three-game sweep at long-time USA South Athletic Conference rival North Carolina Wesleyan on Sunday, running away from the Bishops 9-3 at Bauer Field. Methodist, which improves to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in the USA South, has now won four of its last five games and is tied with Ferrum for first place in the USA South.

Freshman Kurt Kelly continued his amazing work, garnering his first collegiate victory by allowing three runs and nine hits in six-and-a-third innings with two walks and three strikeouts. Senior Casey Varnell worked the final two-and-two-thirds innings in relief for the save.

Methodist took a 2-0 lead in the second. Catcher Jason Hughes tripled to lead off the inning, and then scored on a passed ball. Andy Redman followed with single and advanced to second on a North Carolina Wesleyan error. He eventually scored on a squeeze bunt by Michael Carter.

The Monarchs extended the lead to 4-1 in the third with two more runs as Steve Cornelius’ two-run single scored both Jonathan Spivey and Matt Hunt.

With a three-run lead, Methodist broke the game open with five runs in the ninth. Spivey drilled an RBI double, while Cornelius poked a two-run single. Cornelius later scored on Andy Redman’s sacrifice fly.

Cornelius went 3-for-5 with four RBIs for Methodist, while Spivey went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Hunt also scored two runs for the Monarchs.

Methodist travels to Lynchburg for a 1 p.m. game on Tuesday.