LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- Covenant baseball used strong pitching performances and some timely offense to earn a doubleheader sweep against Greenville, 5-2 and 7-3, at the Covenant baseball field on Thursday afternoon.

GAME ONE: Covenant 5, Greenville 2

Ethan Goebert and Jake Schock (1-0) combined to allow one earned run and Daniel Counts mashed a go-ahead homer to give the Scots a 5-2 win in their season opener.

Goebert started the game for Covenant, allowing just two hits and three walks over five scoreless innings, striking out five. The Scots manufactured a pair of runs in the third and the fifth innings to stake him to a 2-0 lead midway through the contest. 

However, the Panthers answered in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer by Snyder Pennington to tie it up with nobody out. Schock would retire three of the next four hitters he saw, though, leaving the game tied going into the bottom of the frame.

In the bottom of the inning, Covenant would answer back, as Counts would provide the winning runs with his moonshot two-run homer to left-center field in the bottom of the sixth.

Schock dialed in on the hill to close the deal, as he retired 12 of the final 13 men he faced, striking out nine of them to earn the win. Roby McClarnon, Sam Cecil, and Cole Akins provided multi-hit efforts for the Scots' offense as well.

Pennington led the way offensively for Greenville, going 2-for-3 at the dish with two RBIs. Kale Cameron (0-1) was handed the loss on the hill.

GAME TWO: Covenant 7, Greenville 3

The Scots pitching frustrated the Panthers again in game two, and seven of the nine starters recorded at least one hit as Covenant upended Greenville, 7-3, to earn the doubleheader sweep.

James Lee earned the starting nod, his collegiate debut, and was solid, throwing three innings with three strikeouts, allowing two unearned runs. Adkin Finch (1-0) followed, earning the win behind three one-run frames. Brady Daniell (SV, 1) picked up the save, firing the final three innings, all scoreless, while fanning two.

The Scots jumped out to another 2-0 lead early in this one, getting an RBI groundout from Sam Cecil and an RBI triple from Ezra Finton in the first inning.

The Panthers had another answer, though, generating three runs between the third and fourth frames to take their first lead of the day, 3-2, but Finch was clutch, getting out of a bases-loaded, no out jam in the fourth frame, holding Greenville to just the one run.

The offense took care of it from there, as they brought home five unanswered runs between the fifth and seventh innings to create an insurmountable advantage. The game-tying and game-winning runs came in the fifth frame, as a pair of Panther errors allowed Roby McClarnon and Ryan MacLellan to score.

Kyle Livengood and Cecil added to the lead in the sixth, as Livengood hammered a solo shot to left center and Cecil doubled the opposite way to bring home McClarnon. McClarnon added an RBI of his own in the seventh, dribbling a grounder up the middle to score Livengood from second. 

Daniell closed the door in brilliant fashion. allowing just one hit and one walk over 40 pitches to earn his first career save.

Colton Oelze and Matt Rocco drove in the two RBIs of the game for the Panthers, while Dawson Hope (0-1) was given the loss, giving up four runs over 4.1 innings.

UP NEXT

The Scots and Panthers finish up their series tomorrow at 2 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.