Jackson, TN – The Lambuth University baseball team played host to two members of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference this week. On Tuesday, Belhaven College came to town riding a twelve game winning streak and on Wednesday William Carey carried a 19-8 record onto Lambuth Field.
Tuesday saw Lambuth jump out to an early 1-0 lead when Brandon Craig led the game off with a double and scored on a Ryan Concannon single. The game stayed at that point until the Eagles would add one run in the fourth when Bryan Willsey drove in courtesy runner Josh Woods, who was running for James Poole that got the inning going with his one out single.
The Eagle pitching staff held the Blazers scoreless for eight innings. Kory Bates struck out two in two innings of work, Erin Keel sat down one in his two innings of work and Dylan McCurry struck out five in four innings. As all good teams do, Belhaven never gave up. In the top of the ninth inning with the score 2-0, Lambuth, Belhaven loaded the bases on three Travis Humes walks. One run would score on a ground out, one on a pass ball and the third run would be squeezed in for Belhaven to take a 3-2 lead. Lambuth would be unable to get anything started in the bottom half and Belhaven would win their 13th straight game. Travis Humes (1-1) would suffer the loss, while Ben White had a career day at the plate going 4-5 with two stolen bases. James Poole and Craig each added two hits.
Belhaven would extend their winning streak to 15, until they faced, Lambuth’s Wednesday opponent, William Carey on Friday. Lambuth had all sorts of trouble on Wednesday with the speed and the power that William Carey’s team possessed. The game was close heading into the fifth inning with the Crusaders winning 2-1, but the pitching faltered for the Eagles as William Carey scored four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth and the seventh to head to a 13-5 victory over the Lambuth Eagles.
Freshman Matt Fike got his first collegiate start against the red hot Crusaders. Fike (0-1) would throw two plus innings giving up two runs on one hit, but walked six. Offensively, the Eagles just could not get over the hump to close the gap. Bryan Willsey and Mike Davis both hit home runs for the Eagles, while Willsey was only a triple shy of the cycle. James Poole and Henry Sanchez each added two hits apiece.
The Eagles will try and shake these two losses as they head into week three of the conference season. Lyon College of Batesville, AR will be the next opponent of the Eagles. The Scots of Lyon are receiving votes for the nations top 25. Game one of the three game series will be Friday at 2:00 PM. Hope to see you all at the ballpark!
| Lambuth at | 2:00pm |
| Rhodes College | CST |
| Pre-season game (NCAA DIII) | |
