Greensboro College Baseball Advances To Day 3 Of USA South Tournament With Two Victories Thursday

Baseball Advances To Day 3 Of USA South Tournament With Two Victories Thursday
Courtesy of GC SID, Wes Gullett

LaGRANGE, Ga. – The sixth-seeded Greensboro College baseball team advanced to Day 3 at the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament after recording two wins Thursday.

The Pride defeated No.7 William Peace, 7-2, to open the day before topping No.5 Maryville College, 9-6. The wins marked the first tournament victories for the Greensboro baseball team since the 2008 season.

William Peace was able to take an early 1-0 in the first game before Greensboro responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the first inning to tie the game.

After the first two batters of the inning failed to reach base, Andrew Ray laced a triple into the left-center field gap before coming across to score on a Pacers error off the bat of Kristopher Taveras.

The Pacers were then able to regain the lead with one run in the top half of the second inning before the Pride used a three-run bottom half to take their first lead of the contest at 4-2.

Brady Dignan recorded a two RBI single to left field before Andrew Ray recorded the final RBI of the inning with an infield single.

Zach Neumeister then extended the Greensboro lead to 5-2 with a single in the fifth inning before Brandon Soden and Neumeister recorded the game’s final RBIs in the fifth inning.

Neumeister, Dignan, and Ray had two hits each, while Hunter Curtis had a team-high three hits. Piero Amador recorded his team-leading sixth win of the season after pitching the first six innings before giving way to Christian Kercado who recorded his third save of the season after pitching the final three innings.

After winning the first game, Greensboro then took on the Scots of Maryville College.

Maryville took a one-run lead in the first inning before Curtis tied the game in the fourth inning when he placed a single through the left side of the infield to score Ray.

The Scots then regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning but Greensboro struck for two runs in the fifth inning to take a one-run lead of their own.

Greensboro extended their advantage to 5-2 in the seventh inning before Johnny Carpenter tied the game for Maryville with a three-run homerun to left field.

However, the Pride was able to regain the lead in the eighth inning after scoring a pair of unearned runs and did not look back as they went on to win by the three-run margin.

Neumeister, Daniel Efird, and Ray had a team-high two hits each. Adam Murray and Josh Evans combined to pitch the first 6 2/3 innings before giving way to Cameron Whitson who tossed two innings and earned his second victory of the season. Curtis came in to record the final out of ninth inning and record his first save of the season.

“I am so proud of this group’s performance today,” Head Coach Frank Maldonado said. “It was an entire team effort.

“We made pitches when we needed to, got the timely hits when we needed them and played sound defense. I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

The Pride will return to action at 3 p.m. Friday when they take on the winner of No.2 Ferrum College and No.8 Piedmont College. For more information on Greensboro College baseball, continue to follow www.greensborocollegesports.com.