LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Covenant College took a tough loss in its final home game of the season, losing to the Berry College Vikings 6-5. The game was a rubber match of the 3-game series the two programs played in this year. During the first two weeks of the season, Covenant lost to the Vikings 5-4 before avenging that loss a month later with a 10-4 victory at home. Tuesday set the stage for a thriller as a brief ceremony for the Scots 5 graduating seniors took place minutes before game time.
The Scots took the early lead on a Caleb Abney single to right field. The Vikings responded with a run of their own in the top of the 3rd inning, but Covenant added 2 more in the bottom half when Harrison Fisher and Taylor Oldham each had back-to-back singles to set the stage for James Rollins, who singled to left field to score both runners.
Berry was ready for the deficit though and rallied back with a run in the 4th, then an inning later scored 3 to take a 5-3 lead.
Covenant continued the see-saw affair by getting a run in the 5th and 7th innings on RBI hits from Luke Furuto and Oldham, which tied the game at 5.
The deciding run came in the top of the 8th inning as Berry finally took the lead for good. With a runner on second, the Vikings tried to bunt over the runner, but an errant throw by the defense sent the ball into right field and allowed the go-ahead run across the plate.
TJ Page got his 2nd win of the year for the Vikings, while Shane Ludwick took his 2nd loss of the year for the Scots.
In his last home start of his career, Wes McDowell pitched 7 solid innings. He induced an impressive 12 ground-outs but gave up 11 hits, though it was not his fault as weak ground balls seemed to find the hole all day. He left the game with the score 5-5.
Taylor Oldham had 3 hits, including an RBI double. Fisher was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored. Rollins had 2 RBIs, while seniors Luke Furuto and Caleb Abney got 2 hits in their final home game.
The Scots have just 2 games remaining. Their record is 22-14. They travel to play against Hiwassee Saturday for a pair of 7 inning games, with a start time of 1:00pm. Beyond that, Covenant will travel to King College in Bristol, Tennessee for the NCCAA Mid-East region tournament.
