FERRUM, Va. — The Averett University baseball team dropped a hard-fought 10-inning road battle to Ferrum College by the final of 9-8 on Tuesday evening. 
 
Averett (1-8) took a 1-0 advantage early in the first inning of Tuesday's battle when senior Ryan Traylor scored off a Ferrum error to put the Cougars on the board. 
 
The lead was short lived though as the Panthers tallied four runs in the bottom half of the first inning to take a 4-1 lead.
 
Ferrum (3-6) added on to its advantage with two runs in the fourth and one run in the fifth to take a 7-1 edge over the Cougars. 
 
Averett cut into the deficit with one run in the sixth inning to make it 7-2 on an RBI single by sophomore Kyle Wilson. 
 
The following inning Averett's bats came alive as the Cougars plated six runs in the inning to take an 8-7 lead over the Panthers. 
 
Junior Brandon Hatcher got the scoring going with an RBI single to center field and senior Tanner Bradshaw added an RBI single to right center for back-to-back runs for the Cougars. 
 
Freshman Hudson Rowe reached on a fielder's choice scoring freshman Zelgin Jackson, while Hatcher came around to score the sixth run of the game for Averett following an error. 
 
Wilson doubled to left field for his second and third RBI's on the evening to give the Cougars their second lead of the game. 
 
The Panthers, however, scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh to even the contest at 8-8. 
 
Junior Avery Spicer kept the Panthers offense hitless in the eighth with two strikeouts, while senior Cole Spain managed to escape a runner on third situation in the bottom of the ninth with a big strikeout to push the game to extra innings. 
 
Ferrum managed to walk it off in the bottom of the 10th inning following a wild pitch to pick up the 9-8 victory. 
 
Hatcher and Wilson each added a pair of hits for the Cougars, with Wilson leading the way with three RBI's and junior Jason Maggs also tallied two hits in the contest. 
 
Averett returns to action on Sunday when it opens USA South Conference play on the road at Methodist University with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.