DANVILLE, Va. — Senior Avery Spicer slid head first safely into first base, popped up, tossed his helmet in the air and was mobbed by his teammates after his ground ball fielder's choice to second base brought home the game-winning to lift Averett University baseball past N.C. Wesleyan College 9-8 in an 11-inning marathon Sunday at Owen-Fulton Field.

Knotted at 8-8 entering the bottom of the 11th inning, junior Nolan Maccabe singled up the middle to get Averett (10-17, 4-5 USA South) going. Senior Brandon Hatcher drew a walk to put two aboard for senior Jason Maggs, whose flyout to right field moved Maccabe to third base with one out. Spicer then hit a slow chopper to second base, but beat out the throw to first base to avoid a double play and give the Cougars a walk-off win while handing N.C. Wesleyan (15-10, 8-1 USA South) its first conference loss of the season.

Averett and N.C. Wesleyan played 11 innings for the second game in a row after the Battling Bishops rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth to force extra innings. With Averett up 8-4, N.C. Wesleyan got a two-run homer from Tyson Bass in the ninth. The Bishops got the tying runs aboard and into scoring position with out. On a grounder back to the pitcher, Averett got the second out but Jackson Hobbs raced home from third on the play to score. The throw home was wide, which then allowed the tying run to score on the same play to help force extra innings.

However, unlike Saturday's Game 2 in which N.C. Wesleyan won 5-3, the Cougars pulled out the victory.

Averett had control of the game early and opened the first inning with three consecutive one-out hits, including a two-run single by Spicer to give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage. N.C. Wesleyan eventually tied it with a pair of runs in the top of the third.

The tie didn't last long as Averett took advantage of a Bishops error with two outs. With two aboard, a throwing error on a grounder to shortstop allowed Hatcher to score and give the Cougars a 3-2 lead. Freshman Caden Grider followed with an RBI infield single to score freshman Preston Robbins. Freshman Joseph Allen added an RBI single, and the Cougars scored again on a bases-loaded wild pitch to make it 6-2.

Maccabe extended that Averett lead to 8-2 with his two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole in the bottom of the sixth for his first career home run. That blast proved to be beneficial.
N.C. Wesleyan got two runs in the top of the seventh to trim its deficit to 8-4, then erased the deficit completely in the top of the ninth.

Hatcher finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while Maccabe added two hits for the Cougars, who had nine hits as a team.

Freshman Gavin Colwell (1-0) notched his first career win after pitching a perfect 11th inning with a pair of strikeouts.

Averett returns to action on Saturday at Pfeiffer University.

 
 
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