LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Joel Johnson and Trenton Nobles homered, but the Covenant baseball team fell 12-5 to Averett in the finale of a USA South series on Friday afternoon on Lookout Mountain.
Covenant (9-13, 7-5 USA South) still took the series win as the Scots won each of the first two games on Thursday. Averett (7-17, 3-6 USA South) wins for the first time in six tries on Lookout Mountain.
Johnson and Nobles accounted for all the runs for the Scots with their homers. Nobles hammered a two-run homer to right field in the fourth inning to cut the Covenant deficit to 4-2 at the time. The home run was Nobles' first of the year. In the eighth it was Johnson's turn as the senior's second homer of the series, and third of the year, was a three-run blast to left field that brought home Caleb Bloye and Donny Lewis.
However, Covenant would string together just three other hits in the contest. Lewis, Bloye, and Devin Cerrato had a hit apiece for the Scots.
Averett starter Matt Tuggle (2-3) was tough on the mound as he went seven innings and allowed two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts. Tanner Bradshaw tossed the final two innings and struck out three.
The Cougars used a four-run third inning and a five-run sixth inning to build a lead. A bases-clearing, three-run double from Chase McKinney in the third inning gave Averett a 3-0 lead and highlighted the four-run frame. In the sixth, Averett had five run-scoring hits to break open the game and take a 9-2 lead. Averett added single runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
Drew Bradley (1-4) went 3.1 innings in his start and allowed four runs on four hits for Covenant.
McKinney finished 2-for-5 with five RBIs and Zack DeCarlo was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs for the Cougars. Neil Hutchens also had three hits, while Kyle Vidano and Ryan Traylor had two hits apiece.
UP NEXT
Covenant returns to the diamond on Friday, March 23 with game one of a USA South series at Maryville. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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