Greensboro College Baseball Drops USA South Tournament Opener

Baseball Drops USA South Tournament Opener
Courtesy of GC SID, Wes Gullett

LaGRANGE, Ga. – The sixth-seeded Greensboro College baseball team fell to the third-seeded Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan Wednesday in their first game of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament, 6-3.

The Pride wasted no time taking the lead as they plated one run in the top half of the first inning.

Jacob Rodriguez led off the game with a single to center field before advancing into scoring position following a Zach Neumeister walk. Later in the inning, Andrew Ray scored Rodriguez from third base with a sacrifice fly to left field.

After Greensboro established the lead, North Carolina Wesleyan responded back with a three-run inning of their own to take a 3-1 lead.

Despite the falling behind by the two-run deficit, the Pride was able to cut their deficit in half when Brandon Soden delivered a two-out double down the left field line in the second inning to score Adam Murray from third base.

Greensboro then threatened in the third and fourth innings but could not push a runner across the plate despite having runners in scoring position.

The Bishops then went on to extend their lead to 6-2 after scoring one run in the fourth inning and two runs in the sixth inning.

Following the two-run inning by the Bishops, Greensboro was able to get one run back in the seventh inning to make the score 6-3.

Hunter Curtis led off the inning with a single to right field before coming in to score two batters later on a Rodriguez groundout.

Greensboro was able to threaten in the ninth inning but could not take advantage of their opportunities and fell by the three-run margin.

Murray had a team-high three hits, while Soden and Rodriguez had two hit each. Willis Booth pitched 5 1/3 inning and was credited with the loss, while Tyler Garam pitched the final 2 2/3 innings.

“We did a poor job of executing offensively tonight and also ran ourselves out of some innings,” Head Coach Frank Maldonado said. “As a team we have to play more sound on both sides of the game if we want to make a run deep into the tournament.

“Willis did a great job of keeping us in the game but we just could not come up with the big hits.”

The Pride will return to action at 1 p.m. Thursday when they take on the seventh-seeded Pacers of William Peace University. For more information on Greensboro College baseball, continue to follow www.greensborocollegesports.com.