 Baseball |
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February 9, 2008 FAYETTEVILLE, NC - The calendar still says it's winter, but the 2008 Methodist baseball team opened up their season on a beautiful, warm Saturday at Armstrong-Shelley Field. Randolph-Macon struck first, but the Monarchs rattled off 17 hits to take the 12-2 win. Methodist opens at 1-0 overall while Randolph-Macon falls to 0-2 this season. Randolph-Macon scored a run in each of the first two innings on just two hits, but junior Philip Betterly drew a walk early in the bottom of the third inning before sophomore Seth Kivett drove a ball deep into the trees in centerfield clearing the fence 400 feet from home plate. Senior Kyle Eudy kept things going with a single down the left field line and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior Brad Davis. Eudy scored on junior Billy Quinn's single down the left field line to give the Monarchs the 3-2 lead. Both teams were quiet through the fourth and fifth innings, but the Methodist offense came through again in the sixth inning. Junior Dustin Proctor led off with a single through left side of the infield and moved to third on a double down the left field line from senior Michael Carter. Sophomore Brian Halpin loaded the bases with a walk to bring up freshman Jordan Ridenhour in his first appearance. Ridenhour drove one back to the pitcher that allowed everyone to advance scoring Proctor. With bases still loaded, Kivett hit another one out of the park, this time to left center for the grand slam. Randolph-Macon closed out the inning but Methodist held an 8-2 lead. Quinn started the seventh inning off with a home run of his own clearing the right field fence. Proctor hit his second double of the day and advanced to third on a groundout by Carter. Senior Scott Russell hit an infield single and Halpin knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly. Ridenhour drew the walk and Kivett was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Eudy walked to score Russell before Davis singled to left field scoring Ridenhour. With four more runs scored, the Monarchs led 12-2. Randolph-Macon had a runner in scoring position in the eighth, but the Monarchs fielded the double-play to close the inning. Methodist had just one hit in the bottom of the eighth from freshman Trey Such. The team held Randolph-Macon scoreless in the top of the ninth to preserve the 12-2 win. The Monarchs used four pitchers on the day with senior Chris Toth, sophomore Fred Geisinger, freshman Jacob Evans, and sophomore Alex Sholar all spending time on the mound. Geisinger earned the win in five and two third innings pitched allowing just one run on five hits with five strikeouts. Sholar closed the game in the ninth on three consecutive strikeouts. The Monarchs will be back at Armstrong-Shelley on Sunday at 2 pm in a rematch with Randolph-Macon. |
