LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Visiting Birmingham-Southern took advantage of five Covenant errors as the 20th-ranked Panthers defeated the Scots 9-4 on a warm, sunny Tuesday afternoon on Lookout Mountain.
The loss drops Covenant to 22-7 on the season, while BSC improves to 25-8.
After three-and-a-half scoreless innings, Covenant broke through in the bottom of the fourth. David Lockwood led off the frame and reached base when BSC shortstop Evan Grovenstein threw high to first base for an error. Lockwood then stole second and moved to third on a dropped third strike. Perry Rigby drove in Lockwood with a ground out to first base to give the Scots a 1-0 lead.
That lead would not last long as BSC scored five runs in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. Covenant committed four errors in the inning which led to all five runs being unearned for Scots starter Alhanon Miller. Matt Brown and Jake Campbell each had run-scoring hits in the inning for the Panthers.
Covenant would get two runs back in its half of the inning, one on a balk and the other coming on a Will Cleland RBI ground out, to cut the Panthers' lead to 5-3.
BSC would score three more runs in the seventh inning to continue to pull away from the Scots. Covenant would score its final run of the game in the eighth as Andrew Beck tripled and was brought home on another Cleland run-producing ground out.
Miller (5-1) is the tough-luck loser for Covenant. The right-hander went four innings and allowed five runs, but all of them were unearned, on four hits while striking out five. Miller threw 95 pitches, 61 for strikes.
Wilson Jamison (1-0) picks up the win for the Panthers as he came on in relief to throw 1.1 innings. Starter Paul Caudill was wild at times, but the lefty left the game after three hitless innings.
Gillespie, Chris Rollins, David Murphy, and Beck each recorded one hit. Cleland finished with a pair of RBIs while Rigby added one.
Covenant is back in action on Friday when they host Huntingdon in game one of a three-game series starting at 4 p.m. Games two and three of the series will be played on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. Covenant will honor its two seniors between the two games on Saturday.
