DANVILLE, Va. — The Averett University baseball team dropped an 8-2 contest to non-conference foe Lynchburg College on Sunday afternoon at Owen-Fulton Field.
 
Averett (1-2) scored first on Lynchburg (2-2) in the bottom of the first inning. With freshman Chase McKinney on first base, senior Hunter Ashworth doubled to left field, scoring McKinney to put Averett in front 1-0. Lynchburg answered in the top of the third on Griffin Wild's RBI single.
 
Aside from those early runs for each team, Averett junior Dallas Smithers and Lynchburg's David Goulding battled in a pitching duel up to the sixth inning. Averett broke the tie in the bottom half of the sixth on sophomore Matt Tuggle's base hit. With sophomore A.J. Hart on second base and senior Trey Wall on first, Tuggle singled to left field. Hart was going to hold up on third but the left fielder overran the ball, allowing Hart to come home thanks to the fielding error to put the Cougars on top 2-1.
 
The Hornets responded in the seventh inning with a game-tying RBI double by Luke Rodgers and a go-ahead RBI double from Will Harris. Lynchburg added two more runs in the eighth and three more runs in the ninth to pull away.
 
Offensively, went 2-for-4 to lead the Cougars.
 
Smithers (0-1) took the loss on the mound, striking out six while allowing five runs — four earned — on seven hits in 7.2 innings.
 
Averett hosts Roanoke College at 2 p.m. Wednesday.