Gastonia, NC – The Emmanuel Baseball team opened play in the Conference Carolinas Championships this afternoon with a game against the Shorter University Hawks. The Hawks jumped out to an early lead, but the Lions bats caught fire, responding with a 8-run 4
th inning. The Hawks answered to make things interesting late, but
Hunter Parks shut the door to earn the Lions a 9-6 win. With the win, the Lions improve to 27-24 on the season.
The Hawks took an early lead, scoring 2 runs on 2 hits in the top of the 3
rd. The Lions responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo homerun by
Landon Mokris to make it 2-1, Shorter.
Hunter Pirkle sat the Hawks down in order in the top of the 4
th, then the Lions took control. It all started with a lead-off walk to
Zachary Bergstrom.
Drew Knight followed that up with a single through the left side and
Dee Oliver singled to 3
rd base to load the bases.
Dobbs Bowden kept things going with a single to left to score Bergstrom, knotting the game at 2-2.
Ryan Muniz reached on a fielding error to score Knight, giving the Lions a 3-2 lead. A single by
Brock Wollin scored 2 runs to make it 5-2, Lions. An intentional walk to Mokris juiced the bases again for
Hayden Beall and he took full advantage with a grand slam to left to push the Lions lead to 9-2.
In the top of the 8
th, the Hawks made things interesting scoring 3 runs on 3 hits to make it 9-5, Lions.
The Hawks added a run on a hit in the top of the 9
th, but
Hunter Parks shut the door getting the final two outs and make the final, 9-6 Lions.
At the plate,
Drew Knight went 3-5 with a run scored with
Landon Mokris and
Hayden Beall going yard.
On the mound,
Hunter Pirkle was dealing, throwing 7.0 innings and giving up 4 runs on 4 hits. He struck out 9 batters on the afternoon.
Hunter Parks relieved him to throw 2.0 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and struck out 4 batters.
Next up, the Lions will face #1 seed Francis Marion tomorrow morning at 11AM. For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
