HARRISONBURG, Va. — The Averett University baseball team swept Eastern Mennonite University on Monday, winning 3-0 in the opener and 7-3 in the nightcap.
 
In Game 1, Averett (10-24) was paced by the play of starting pitcher, freshman Ben Kimberlin, who pitched a complete game shutout to lead the Cougars to victory. Kimberlin let up three hits while striking out four Eastern Mennonite (11-15) batters on his way to his first ever collegiate win.
 
Each side was scoreless through four innings of play with the Cougars striking first in the top of the fifth. Freshman Tucker Majetic led off the inning with an infield single before reaching second on a sacrifice bunt from senior Dallas Smithers. Junior Kyle Vidano was the next batter up and the second baseman struck a bunt that forced an errant throw from the Lions pitcher that allowed him to reach safely at first and score Majetic from second.
 
Averett added two runs in the sixth on a RBI-groundout from sophomore Nick Winston and a single up the middle from Majetic to stretch the Cougar lead to three. Kimberlin held down the Eastern Mennonite offense in their last two at bats to preserve the 3-0 victory for Averett.
 
Majetic led the offensive attack as the Prince George, Virginia, native went 3-for-3 at the plate with a RBI and a run scored.
 
Freshman Cole Spain got the start in Game 2 and the Prince George, Virginia, product went six innings giving up three runs – one earned – while collecting six strikeouts.  The Lions took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. After this, though, Spain settled down and held Eastern Mennonite to just one more run on his way to his second victory of his collegiate career. Spain retired the last nine of 12 batters that he faced.
 
Averett complemented Spain's performance on the mound with run support in the form of four runs in the third and three in the sixth. The Cougars quickly took the lead in the third as Winston hit a grand slam to left field to give Averett the 4-2 advantage. This home run was the first for Winston in his collegiate career. The Cougars scratched three more across in the sixth for the 7-3 lead. Averett was able to score two runs on an error and wild pitch from Eastern Mennonite. This left a runner on third for sophomore Chase McKinney and the shortstop struck a single to left field to score Vidano for the 7-3 edge.
 
Eastern Mennonite worked a no out bases loaded situation in the seventh inning. Head coach Drew Bailey called on junior Matt Tuggle to come on and pitch in relief for Spain. Tuggle struck out the first batter he faced for the first out of the inning. The Lions would score on the ensuing play on a Cougar error to cut their deficit to four to bring the tying run to the plate. Tuggle stood tall, though, and struck out the next two batters to complete the sweep with the 7-3 Averett win.
 
Winston finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and a run scored.
 
The Cougars open up a three game set at home against Methodist University on Saturday. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.