WILSON, N.C. -- The Covenant baseball team fell to North Carolina Wesleyan 3-1 in the opening round of the USA South Tournament on Thursday night at Fleming Stadium.

Covenant (20-16) will face No. 2 seed LaGrange on Friday at 1 p.m. at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C., in a losers' bracket game. N.C. Wesleyan (23-16) moves on to the winners' bracket against No. 7 seed Huntingdon on Friday.

The Scots fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the second as N.C. Wesleyan's Ciro Norzagaray delivered a two-run single with two outs giving the Bishops the lead. Starter Garrett Kriston worked his way out of further damage to keep the Scots within striking distance.

N.C. Wesleyan starter TJ Wilkie kept the Scots off balance for much of the game, but Covenant did scratch across a run in the seventh. Alex Kerr led off with a walk and was later moved to second before Z Arima produced a run-scoring single to make it 2-1.

But the Bishops got a run back in their half of the seventh as Norzagaray had another RBI single and Wilkie shut the door on the Scots the rest of the way.

Kriston (8-3) went eight innings allowing three runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts. Arima went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Kerr was 1-for-2 with a run and two walks.

Wilkie (4-2) finished with 15 strikeouts and allowed one run on four hits. Norzagaray went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Bishops.

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Covenant will play LaGrange on Friday at 1 p.m. at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C. Should the Scots win, they will play again on Friday at 4 p.m.

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