Eagles win historic first game but drop second for a Saturday split
- Asbury 16, Berea 11
- Berea 13, Asbury 7 (10 innings)
- Season Stats to Date (33 of 34 games)
Wilmore, Ky. - Once again the Eagles roared out of the gate in the first game of the day only to drop the nightcap and leave the field with a split against conference foe Berea. The mixed result leaves Asbury at 15-19 overall, 4-8 in KIAC play.
The Eagles made history in the first game as they would send 22 batters to the plate, scoring a school-record 16 runs in the second inning on nine hits combined with four Berea errors. Overall the half inning lasted 46 minutes.
The outburst gave starter Greg Bowling ample opportunity for the win which he would get but not after Berea would rally to cut the score to its final margin of 16-11 after a grand slam in the sixth inning by outfielder Aaron Bee. Freshman Brandon Boardman would enter the sixth with no outs and promptly get the next six Berea outs in eight batters to preserve the win.
The nightcap would see Asbury build a 6-2 lead after four innings thanks to a two-run homerun by Zach Monroe in the first, a two-run RBI single by Evan Thomsen in the third, and two runs responsible by Mark Deetsch with an RBI double scoring Slade Halvaksz and Deetsch later scoring on an error to close out the fourth.
The teams would breeze through a scoreless fifth before Berea would get two runs in the sixth with Asbury adding a run in the bottom half on a Thomsen single scoring Adam Ward to put Asbury on top 7-4. Berea, however would get a two-run triple before getting a two-out bloop single to tie the game against reliever McKenzie Carter.
Asbury had no answer in the bottom of the seventh and both teams would not threaten in the eighth and ninth innings but Berea would explode for six runs in the top of the 10th for the final 13-7 margin while Asbury would go down 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
The Eagles now stand in third place of the KIAC with a 4-8 record as they will host Brescia University next weekend, however Asbury will play one more out-of-conference game against Centre College on Wednesday with first pitch at 4:30 p.m.
