DUE WEST, S.C. – The King University baseball team traveled to take on Conference Carolinas foe Erskine College in a doubleheader Friday afternoon. The Tornado took game one 4-3, but fell in game two 9-7. The rubber match to decide the weekend series winner will be played tomorrow morning at 10:00 am.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 4, Erskine 3; Erskine 9, King 7
LOCATION: Grier Field; Due West, S.C.
RECORDS: King 23-13, 10-9 Conference Carolinas; Erskine 23-16, 9-8 Conference Carolinas

SERIES HIGHLIGHTS

• Austin Meyer led the Tornado with five hits on the day including a 4-5 performance in game one of the doubleheader.
• Mark Michael went 2-3 in game two with a double and a homerun. The bomb to left field was his second of the season.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Tornado ripped five hits through the first three innings of the game including a J.P. Castaneda double, but could not capitalize with runners on base.
• However, Grant Boyd and the Tornado defense was holding strong as they did not give up any runs through the first five innings.
• King struck first in the contest when Kevin Barbato laced a triple to right center field to bring home Castaneda who was on third and take a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning.
• The Tornado added to their lead in the sixth inning when Mark Michael brought home Bubba Ruiz to give King a 2-0 advantage.
• Erskine chipped away at the Tornado lead in the bottom of the sixth inning as they scored one run to make the contest 2-1 King.
• In the seventh inning, the Flying Fleet tied up the contest 2-2, however, the Tornado responded with a run of their own in the top of the eighth. Tony Valdes ripped a single with Ruiz on third to give King a 3-2 lead.
• Unfortunately, a solo homerun by Erskine in the bottom of the eighth inning would tie up the contest once again, 3-3.
• In the top of the ninth, with Ashton King on second, Austin Meyer laced a double to right field to bring King home and give the Tornado a 4-3 lead.
• King would hold onto the 4-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth to finish off the Flying Fleet and take the game one victory.

OF RECORD

Winning Pitcher: Octavio Mirabal (7-3) 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
Losing Pitcher: Grayson King (3-2) 1.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• Erskine jumped out to quick 2-0 lead on King as they scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
• The Tornado would respond however, as they scored a run of their own in the top of the second to cut their deficit to 2-1.
• The Flying Fleet broke out for a huge inning in the bottom of the third as they scored three runs on the Tornado to go up 7-1.
• However, again King would respond as they recorded three runs in the top of the fourth inning. A Michael double would get the ball rolling in the inning for the Tornado as his hit brought in a run.
• Valdes recorded a sacrifice fly to bring in the second Tornado run of the inning and Castaneda would later record a run batted in double to cap off the inning and put King down 7-4.
• Erskine would record another run in the fourth, but King scored in the fifth on a Meyer sacrifice fly to center field to bring the contest to 8-5.
• The Flying Fleet tailed another run in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to 9-5.
• Despite a Michael bomb to left field that brought in two more runs for the Tornado in the top of the seventh, King could not rally anymore and fell to the Fleet 9-7.

OF RECORD

Winning Pitcher: Lucas Coan (6-3) 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
Losing Pitcher: Octavio Mirabal (7-4) 2.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4BB, 3 SO

FOR THE FOES

• Zach Carter and Thomas Lavin led the Flying Fleet as they each recorded four hits on the day and four runs batted in.
• Lucas Coan got the win in game two for Erskine to improve his record to 6-3 on the year.

UP NEXT

• King stays in Due West to finish up the weekend series against the Flying Fleet tomorrow at 10:00 am.