MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Senior infielder Holden Lanier hit a go-ahead RBI-double in the top of the ninth inning, while senior right-handed pitcher Huntley Hacker (1-1) slammed the door in the bottom of the frame to give the Brevard College baseball team (7-8, 1-0 USAS) the edge over Maryville College (4-10, 0-1 USAS) on Friday afternoon in Maryville, Tennessee.
Lanier collected a pair of hits alongside BC's lone extra-base hit of the contest, while freshman Logan Clark surged for a 4-for-4 day at the plate with an RBI and a run. Zach Allison added a hit, run, and RBI as eight different Tornado batters registered base hits in the USA South Conference contest.
Ben Melton earned the fourth start of his senior campaign, going 6.2 innings allowing seven hits and a pair of runs while striking out five Scot batters. Hacker came on in relief midway through the seventh inning, ending a scoring threat in the bottom of the seventh and earning the victory after 2.1 perfect innings of work.
Maryville's Will Hubbell, Gabe Lopez, and Luke McLemore all recorded multi-hit performances for the Scot offense. Michael Holmes (1-1) was handed the loss after surrendering a pair of runs in the ninth after Tommy Fester went eight innings with nine hits, two runs, and four strikeouts.
After an Allison walk and a Jason Jucker single that put runners on the corners in the top of the first, Clark hit a sacrifice fly that scored Allison to give BC the early lead, 1-0. Melton hurled four shutout innings, as the Tornados managed to place runners in scoring position in each of the four first frames.
Following another scoring chance by Brevard in the top of the fifth where a pair of baserunners were stranded, Maryville was able to break through in the bottom half. Lopez hit an RBI-single to left field that brought Hubbell around to score, tying the score at 1-1 through five innings.
The Tornado offense was able to answer right back, after a walk and a sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Allison singled home Brett Burchett to give the Tornados the lead once again, 2-1.
After a shutdown bottom of the sixth from Melton, Maryville forced a pair of BC baserunners to be left stranded in scoring position in the top half of the seventh inning. The Scots used a single, double, and a wild pitch to scratch across their second run of the contest. With a runner on third and two outs, Hacker was brought in with Lopez at the plate, forcing a key strikeout to send the contest to the eighth inning in a deadlock.
Both teams traded 1-2-3 innings in the eighth before BC kickstarted their ninth-inning rally. Wilkes was hit by a pitch with one out before Clark hit a single up the middle to give Brevard a pair of baserunners and only one out. Lanier proceeded to rope a pitch into the right-center field gap that produced the game's go-ahead run, as Clark and Wilkes both came across to score to give Brevard the 4-2 advantage.
Hacker slammed the door shut on the conference victory in the bottom of the ninth, forcing a pair of groundouts and a lineout to give Brevard the road win.
Brevard and Maryville close out their three-game conference series on Saturday when the two sides face off in a doubleheader scheduled for 12 and 3:30 p.m.
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-BC-