DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University baseball fell to Bates College 9-5 at Owen-Fulton Field on Thursday afternoon.
Averett (1-8, 0-0 ODAC) was down 7-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior
Brandt Brophy legged out a single hit to the shortstop. He advanced to second on a groundout. Junior
Caden Grider poked a single down the left field line to score Brophy. Junior
Kevin Zischke belted the ball over the left field fence for a two-run homerun to cut the deficit down to 7-5.
In the first inning, Bates (1-0, 0-0 NESAC) got a runner on off of a walk. He later got into scoring position after stealing second. After a fielding error from the second baseman, the lead runner scored to put the Bobcats up 1-0. In the bottom half of the inning, freshman
Chris Byrd swatted a single up the middle. Grider was walked to put Byrd into scoring position at second. Zischke hit a single to right center to score Byrd. In the top of the second, Averett struggled defensively. Bates took advantage of some mistakes and it was able to string together a couple of hits to take a 6-1 lead over the Cougars.
In the bottom of the third, Grider reached first on a throwing error from the shortstop. He took second after Zischke was walked. Freshman
Jack Turner laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Junior
Luke Harris hit a sacrifice fly into left to score Grider. In the fourth, the Bobcats tacked on another run to make the score 7-2. Freshman
Garrett Arner came in to relieve senior
Shane Michel. Arner held the Bobcats scoreless until the ninth inning, where they scored two runs.
Despite giving up two runs in the final inning, Arner had a masterful performance in relief. Through six innings of work, he allowed seven hits with nine strikeouts. Zischke went 2-for-4 with three RBI's. Junior
Mason Williams went 4-for-5 on the day.
The Cougars are back in action on Saturday when they travel to face Southern Virginia University in a doubleheader beginning at noon.
