ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The Brevard College baseball team (2-11, 1-5 USAS) fell in a nail biting rubber match against host NC Wesleyan College (4-9, 2-4 USAS), 2-1, on Sunday afternoon in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
A heated pitching duel between Brevard's Kross Robinson and NC Wesleyan's Drew Tubb highlighted the afternoon, as both starters went deep into the ballgame for their respective sides. Robinson, a senior from Morganton, North Carolina, pitched seven innings of one-run ball, logging six strikeouts while NC Wesleyan's Drew Tubb threw a complete game, allowing just four hits and one earned run on a JJ Wilkes home run in the ninth inning, fanning seven Tornados in the contest.
Wilkes' second-career homer proved to be the only Tornado extra-base hit of the afternoon off Tubb. Donny Carsillo, Jason Jucker, and Cade Stecher also recorded hits off the Battling Bishop pitcher on the afternoon.
NCWC's Alec Titmus went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the Battling Bishops, while Nick Beaver and Brad Pennington drove in runs for the Battling Bishops.
Pitching dominated the first six innings of the contests, as Robinson and Tubb held both teams in check.
Tubb kept the Tornados off the board in the top of the seventh inning before the Battling Bishops broke the scoreless tie after a two-out walk was followed up by a a Pennington RBI-double that put NC Wesleyan up by a 1-0 margin.
BC put a runner in scoring position in the top of the eighth frame, but back-to-back outs ended the scoring threat.
Matthew Scavotto came in relief in the bottom of the eigith inning for Robinson, allowing an unearned run to push the Battling Bishops by a two-run margin, 2-0.
Wilkes hit a homer to left field to cut the deficit to a 2-1 margin, however, the Battling Bishops shut down the Tornados in order to clinch the series victory.
The Tornados return to action next weekend when Brevard faces Maryville College in Conference play at Gil Coan Field. Brevard and Maryville open with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 7 at 12 and 3 p.m., with the series finale set for Sunday, March 8 at 1 p.m.
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