LAURINBURG, N.C. -- Jacob DiThomas led off with a home run in his first at-bat for the University of Pikeville and it ended up being a good omen for the day as the Bears won two at St. Andrews, 6-2 and 5-4, on Saturday.
DiThomas collected a pair of hits in the opener and scored twice before adding another run, a walk and a stolen base in game two. Nicolas Gonzales and Patrick Schloss also tallied two hits each in the 6-2 win.
Zach Nothwehr drove in a pair of runs with one hit in the 5-4 win while also scoring a run and drawing a walk. Erik Manning backed him up with a double and walk and Mike Peluffo scored a run after his one hit and stole a base.
A.J. Carkner picked up the win in game on, lasting 6 2/3 innings while giving up two earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk. James Brooks won game two on the mound after allowing three earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 frames.
J.P. Henderlight closed out the game for Brooks to pick up a save, striking out one batter in 2/3 of an inning.
UPIKE saw its 2-0 lead in the opener erased by the Knights (0-4) in the bottom of the third inning with their only two runs of the game. The Bears, on the other hand, did the rest of their scoring with four runs in the sixth to allow Carkner to pick up the win.
Game two had a slow start and exciting finish as Brooks for UPIKE and Brad Monson for St. Andrews kept things scoreless through five innings. The Knights scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Roasado to score Radcliff who had singled.
Faced with its first deficit of the season, UPIKE responded in a big way with five runs on three hits, two errors and a walk allowed by the Knight's defense.
Trailing 5-1, St. Andrews wasn't ready to go away as it scored two runs before Henderlight came in to get a ground out and strikeout around another run to hold on in a dramatic finish.
UPIKE closes out the three-game series at St. Andrews at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. Â
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UPIKE 6, St. Andrews 2
Jacob DiThomas: 2-4, HR, 2 R, RBI
Nicolas Gonzales: 2-4, RBI
Patrick Schloss: 2-3, R, 2B
A.J. Carkner: 6.2 IP, W, 5 K, BB, 6 H, 2 ER
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UPIKE 5, St. Andrews 4
Erik Manning: 1-3, R, 2B, BB
Jacob DiThomas: 0-2, R, BB, SB, HBP
Mike Peluffo: 1-4, R, SB
Zach Nothwehr: 1-3, 2 RBI, R, BB
James Brooks: 6.1 IP, W, 4 K, BB, 4 H, 3 ER
J.P Henderlight: 0.2 IP, S, K, 0 ERÂ
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