BRISTOL, Tenn. – In a key Conference Carolinas series in the final month, the King University baseball team came back to split a doubleheader with Barton College on Friday afternoon. The Tornado dropped game one 7-5, but came back late in game two, taking the split with a 7-5 victory.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Barton 7, King 3; King 7, Barton 5
LOCATION: King Baseball Field; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 17-17, 10-12 Conference Carolinas; Barton 22-19, 12-11 Conference Carolinas
SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
- A single, walk and hit by pitch loaded the bases for Barton in the top of the first inning.
- After that, Ray Berry retired the next 12 batters, but a pair of groundouts scored runs in the first to give Barton a 2-0 lead.
- King earned their first scoring chance against Alex Hart in the third inning as Deric Graham led off the inning with a walk.
- Following a sacrifice bunt, Zachary Thomas single to put runners on the corners.
- However, Hart got the final two outs to keep King off the scoreboard.
- Barton manufactured another run in the fifth before Renwick ripped an inside the park home run down the left field line, pulling King back within 3-1 after five.
- Barton scored three runs in the sixth, highlighted by a Luke Pritchett run-scoring single and Cody Naylor sacrifice fly.
- A Backus bunt single scored Davis Hall in the bottom of the sixth, but Barton turned a double play to keep their lead at 6-2.
- A Bulldog sacrifice fly extend the lead to 7-2 in the top of the ninth.
- The Tornado didn't quit, however, as Renwick started a two-out rally with a single.
- Graham followed with a single before a Hilliard base hit scored Renwick.
- However, that was all King scored as Hart got the final out to hand King the 7-3 defeat.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Alex Hart (7-2) 9.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
Losing Pitcher: Ray Berry (4-2) 5.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
- Barton started the nightcap with back-to-back single and manufacture a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead.
- Roper started the Tornado half of the first with a single and later scored on a two-out single from Backus.
- The Tornado had two base runners in the third on hits from Roper and Scott but couldn't push a run across.
- Four straight singles plated another run in the fourth, but King turned a double play to end the inning and keep their deficit at 3-1.
- The King offense caught fire in the fifth as Hilliard started the inning with a single.
- Scott later came up with two outs and laced a single through the left side that scored Roper and Hilliard to even the tally.
- Later in the inning after a pitching change, Renwick single to score Scott and give King the lead.
- A Jack Flanagan single scored Backus to give King a 6-3 lead following the fifth.
- Barton responded with two runs in the top of the sixth, one scored on a Ryan McIsaac triple before he scored on a Pritchett sacrifice fly.
- A two-out Davis Hall double scored Hilliard to extend the King lead to 7-5 going to the seventh.
- Jakob Brown worked around a one-out walk to retire the Bulldogs and give King the 7-5 victory and his second complete game of the season.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Jakob Brown (3-4) 7.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Losing Pitcher: Nate McKenrick (1-1) 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO
FOR THE FOES
- Colby Warren and McIsaac posted four hits each with McIsaac ripping a double and triple.
- Andres Machado added three hits and scored twice.
- Carelle Gonzalez scored three times on two hits and Pritchett added two hits.
UP NEXT
- The series concludes on Saturday with firs pitch at 12:30 following the senior day ceremony at 12:00 p.m.
