LAGRANGE, Ga. -- The No. 3 West seed Covenant baseball team fell to top-seed, and No. 5-ranked, LaGrange, 11-2, in a winners' bracket game in the USA South Tournament on Friday at Cleaveland Field.

The loss sends Covenant (22-18) to an elimination game with William Peace on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner of that game will have to beat LaGrange twice to win the bracket and move into next weekend's championship series.

The loss also snapped an eight-game win streak for the Scots. It was the longest win streak for the program since 2014 when the Scots set a record with nine straight victories.

As the visiting team, LaGrange (34-6) came out swinging and built a 6-0 lead through two innings. The Panthers scored three runs in the first and three more in the second to build a comfortable lead.

Covenant scratched across a run in the fourth inning. Zeke Gilbert singled for the Scots' first hit and later scored on Josh Harvey's RBI double to right field that brought Covenant within 7-1.

Harvey also drove in the Scots' other run, producing an RBI single that plated Chase McBryar in the eighth inning. Harvey and Gilbert had two hits apiece as the Scots tallied seven in the loss.

LaGrange racked up 22 hits as McKinley Erves went 5-for-6 while Joe Ruth and Jared Aldridge had three hits each. Panthers starter Dalton Brooks (6-1) got the win as he went seven innings.

Judah O'Neal (0-1) got the start and picked up the loss for the Scots. Aaron Northcutt saved the Scots' bullpen as he threw a career-high eight innings in relief and collected two strikeouts while holding the Panthers to five earned runs.

UP NEXT

Covenant and William Peace will meet on Saturday at 1 p.m. in an elimination game. The winner plays LaGrange at 4:30 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.