LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- As a sunny Friday afternoon began, the Covenant Scots and the Emory & Henry Wasps played back-to-back games of baseball. The Scots swept the doubleheader from the visiting Wasps by scores of 11-0 in game one and 13-3 in game two.
Emory & Henry and Covenant will meet again on Saturday at 10 a.m. on Lookout Mountain to wrap up the series.
The first two innings of game one were slow, but that all changed in the third inning. In the bottom of the third, following one-out singles from Jonathan Carter and Kurt Wiles, David Lockwood had a sacrifice fly to right field to score Carter and advance Wiles to third. Sterling Witt stepped up to the plate and landed a much needed double for the Scots that plated Wiles and James Rollins to make it 3-0.
Covenant would add a run in the fourth inning on Will Cleland's home run. The homer for the freshman was the first collegiate hit of his young career. In the fifth, a James Rollins sacrifice fly and a Scott Gillespie run-scoring single made it 6-0.
In the sixth inning, the Scots added some insurance runs as they scored five times off two Wasps relievers. Gillespie's bases-clearing double scored three runners to put Covenant up 10-0.
Covenant starting pitcher Tyler Smith went six innings before Eddie Jamerson stepped on the mound to finish the game. Smith allowed no runs and threw 79 pitches, 61 for strikes, while striking out four and giving up just two hits. Smith (1-0) was credited with the win while the loss was given to Jessup Lambert (0-2) of the Wasps.
Game two soon began soon afterward with the Scots putting Andre Glover on the mound. Emory & Henry struck first with its first run of the day in the second inning. Mark Robertson's two-out single scored Michael Myers from third base to give the Wasps a 1-0 lead.
But Covenant responded in the bottom of the second inning by scoring eight runs of its own. K.C. Simons drove in Chris Rollins from second base with a soft single to left field. Carter then reached on an error and Simons and Carter then executed a double steal of third and second base, respectively. Wiles then drove both runners home on a triple to right field to give Covenant a 3-1 lead. One batter later, Lockwood connected on a two-run home run over the left field fence, his first of the season, that made it 5-1. A Chris Rollins run-scoring single and a two-RBI double from Cleland wrapped up the eight run outburst from the Scots.
Covenant then added to its lead in the fifth inning by scoring five times. Gillespie, Chris Rollins, Simons, and pinch-hitter GC Marchena all contributed RBIs in the inning. The visiting Wasps managed to squeeze in two runs in the top of the seventh off Covenant reliever Demarius Johnson.
Glover (1-0) was given the win for the game after pitching five innings and throwing 64 pitches. The right-hander struck out four batters, while allowing just three hits and one unearned run in his outing. Wasps starting pitcher Will Dingus (0-1) was saddled with the loss.
Covenant outhit Emory & Henry 27-8 overall for both games. Gillespie finished 3-for-6 while batting in five runners. Witt also finished 4-for-7 with four runs scored. Every starter in game two either recorded a hit or scored a run.
Covenant and Emory & Henry will play game three tomorrow at 10 a.m. The Scots will head to Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 24 and 25 with a three-game series against Birmingham Southern College.
