DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University baseball fell to Hampden-Sydney College in both games of Saturday's conference opener.
Game 1 had all of the intensity of an Old Dominion Athletic Conference opener from both Averett (5-9) and Hampden-Sydney (8-4) as the Tigers eventually won the opening battle of the big cats, 4-3.
Hampden-Sydney struck first, taking an early 2-0 lead before Averett had a chance to bat. The Cougars answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first as senior
Austin Ford singled to center to drive junior
Tyler Lowe across the plate.
The 2-1 scoreline held on until the sixth inning as a pitchers duel broke out at Owen-Fulton Field. Sophomore
Corbin Mickle turned in a great start for Averett, going 6.1 innings while allowing just three runs and striking out six Tigers in the process.
Averett tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth with situational at bats from freshman Vaughn Mayo and redshirt sophomore
Teddy Hauser to drive in runs. Ultimately Hampden-Sydney scratched a run across in the top of the eighth inning to earn a 4-3 victory and start conference play in the win column.
Game 2 took on an eerily similar storyline to the first contest of the day. Hampden-Sydney opened the game with a run in the top of the first, before Averett rallied to tie things at 1-1 on a double down the right field line off the bat of Ford.
The Cougars took a lead in the bottom of the fourth with yet another RBI double, this time coming from junior
Maddox Jordan. Averett stayed ahead 2-1 through the middle innings as sophomore
Ean Amerson kept the Tigers offense at bay. Amerson finished his day with 5.2 innings pitched, allowing just two runs and striking out seven Tigers batters.
Hampden-Sydney scored one run in the sixth and tacked on two more in the seventh inning to snatch back the lead for the final time. Averett scored one more run in the eighth, another RBI base hit for Ford, but the Cougars rally stopped just short with the game ending 4-4 again in favor of Hampden-Sydney.
Sophomore
Cade Sabin and junior
Jack Turner each pitched well out of the pen for Averett in Game 2, holding Hampden-Sydney scoreless in 2.2 innings of work and striking out three batters each.
Senior
Luke Keister and Ford tied for the team lead in hits across Saturday's games with three each, while Ford once again led the team with three RBIs.
Averett takes a short hiatus before returning to action against Muskingum University on Thursday, March 12, at 1 p.m. for midweek home baseball.
