April 17, 2008
Early scores lift Bishops over Cougars

BURLINGTON, NC – Runs in the first three innings and a two-run homer by Chris Pecora in the eighth inning lifted the Bishops of NC Wesleyan College over the Averett University Cougars on Thursday, by a final score of 9-2.

The Bishops (25-11-1 overall) jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Travis Beausoleil reached first base on a Cougar (14-21 overall) error, and then Justin Batts smacked a triple to the center field wall, scoring Beausoleil. Batts later scored on a two-out squeeze bunt from Ted Williams. At the end of the first inning, NC Wesleyan held a 2-0 advantage.

In the second inning, the Bishops crossed two more runs after another Averett error, a pair of singles, and two sacrifice fly balls from Pecora and Batts. They extended the lead to 6-0 in the third inning, on three hits and another Cougar error.

At the start of the fourth inning, Michael Mothershead came in to the contest to pitch for the Cougars. He pitched three scoreless innings, and then in the top of the seventh inning Averett managed their first runs of the contest. Eric Sibrizzi reached first base on a single through the right side. The next batter, Jake Loye, then crushed a ball over the left field wall for a two-run homer to bring the score to 6-2.

In the eighth inning, the Bishops scored three more runs. Matt Smith reached on an error, and then scored when Beausoleil singled. After than, Pecora hit a long home run to left field, scoring two more runs and putting the score at 9-2, where it would remain for the final score.

On the day, Beausoleil led the Bishops with two hits for two runs and one RBI. Pecora had his homerun with three RBI, while Williams had two hits, one run and one RBI. Kyle Robinson pitched a complete game for the Bishops, taking the win.

For the Cougars, Ahmed Shelton had two hits, while Jake Loye had his homerun for two RBI and a run. Ben Hildreth took the loss with three innings pitched, while allowing only two earned runs. Mothershead had 3.1 innings pitched with no runs.

With the loss, the Cougars will move to face the Panthers of Ferrum College on Friday, April 18 at the Burlington Athletic Stadium at 9:30 a.m. The Bishops will move to play the Pride of Greensboro College also at 9:30 a.m., at Elon University’s baseball field.

Box Score