LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- With very cold temperatures predicted for Saturday, the Covenant baseball team had its doubleheader moved to Friday afternoon against Emory & Henry. In the first game, Emory & Henry took an extra inning affair 6-5, before Covenant handled the Wasps by a score of 7-1 in the second game.
Covenant moves to 3-1 for the season, while Emory & Henry goes to 2-3.
The series will wrap up tomorrow with a single game beginning at 12 p.m., weather permitting.
Game One: Emory & Henry 6, Covenant 5, F-8 innings
Emory & Henry's Caleb Rotton hit a two-run home run to left field in the top of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and give the visiting Wasps a 6-5 win.
Covenant had managed to tie the game at 4 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Scott Gillespie triple home David Lockwood and Stephen Wray brought Gillespie home with a single to make it 4-3. The Scots would tie the score on a successful steal of home by Chris Rollins after Wray baited Emory & Henry into a rundown between first and second base.
After Rotton's homer in the top of the eighth, Covenant tried to mount a two-out rally in its half of the inning. Rollins doubled and was driven home on a Wray double to cut the Scots deficit to 6-5. But Wasps closer Matthew McInaw was able to get the final out and preserve the win for the visitors.
Sophomore right-hander Keith Rice started the Scots off with four innings with only one run given up. Fellow sophomore Alec Mitchell (1-1) relieved Rice and picked up the loss. Mitchell allowed five runs in four innings of work.
Emory & Henry's Jessup Lambert (1-1) notches his first win of the season as he worked seven innings, striking out six, and allowing four runs on four hits. McInaw gets credit for the save, his first of the season.
Wray finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Covenant. Eric Houff had three hits, including a three-run home run, in four at-bats for Emory & Henry.
Game Two: Covenant 7, Emory & Henry 1
In game two, Scots pitcher Micah Mabe (2-0) provided five strong innings of one-run ball allowing only four base runners total and Covenant's bats awoke as the Scots took a 7-1 win.
Gillespie started the scoring early for the Scots with a two-run home run in the first inning, his first of the season, scoring K.C. Simons.
The Wasps answered on a home run by Bransen Christopher in the top of the second inning but the Scots got the run back in the their half of the second on a Reid Pope sacrifice fly.
Pope recorded his second RBI of the day when he drove in Rollins in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lockwood continued to add to the lead by scoring Wray on a fielder's choice to make it 5-1 after four innings.
Covenant added two runs in the sixth on a Braeden Lane RBI single and a Gillespie sac fly to make it 7-1.
Sophomore Spencer Smith relieved Mabe in the sixth and closed out the game with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts.
Emory & Henry's Ty Hill (1-1) gets the loss after surrendering four earned runs on eight hits in four innings.
Simons, Gillepsie, and Wray led the Covenant 11-hit attack with two hits apiece. Wray finished the day with five hits. Gillespie added three RBIs in game two.
