DEMOREST, Ga. -- A seven-run seventh inning and a standout relief effort from Jackson Rau lifted the Covenant baseball team to a 7-3, series-opening, win at Piedmont on a chilly Friday night at Loudermilk Field in USA South action.

It is the second straight conference series that Covenant (11-15, 3-7 USA South) has claimed the opener. 

The Scots trailed 3-0 entering the seventh inning, but scored seven runs on three hits to grab a 7-3 lead. That margin would hold as Rau came out of the bullpen to throw four scoreless innings to earn his first career win.

In the decisive seventh inning, Zeke Gilbert led off the frame with his first of two hits in the inning and was followed by a walk to Josh Harvey. After Chris Savage was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Joseph Ridenour drew a bases-loaded walk to get the Scots on the board at 3-1. Tyler Cox followed with a sacrifice fly to get Covenant within 3-2.

The Scots were not done in the inning, however. Two more walks sandwiched around an error gave Covenant a 5-3 lead. Harvey came through with the biggest hit of the inning as he drove in two runs with a single to give the Scots a 7-3 lead.

Rau (1-0) finished off the Lions from there. The junior right-hander allowed just three hits over his four innings of work and struck out a career-high seven. Covenant pitching struck out 10 Lions on the night as starter Bryce Bollinger had three in his five innings of work.

Gilbert had two of the Scots' five hits on the night while Harvey, Ken Burke, and Andrew Brock each had a hit.

Piedmont (13-12-1, 5-2 USA South) got 6.2 innings from starter Peyton Irvin (2-4) as he picked up the loss. The Lions scored all three runs in the fifth off Bollinger as a wild pitch and a ground out brought home two runs before Alex Gonzalez delivered an RBI single to make it 3-0.

UP NEXT

Covenant will go for the series win on Saturday as the teams play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

CONNECT WITH THE SCOTS

Be sure to follow the Scots all season long on athletics.covenant.edu and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news and other information.