ANDERSON, S.C. - The Anderson baseball dropped both ends of a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader to visiting Mars Hill, 12-9 and 6-2, Saturday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium.

Mars Hill snapped a four-game losing skid and improved to 18-22 overall and 9-12 in the conference, while Anderson slipped to 16-23 and 9-12.

Game #1
Mars Hill 12, Anderson 9

Senior Ryan Saxon ripped three hits, including a pair of doubles, while teammate Jonathan Romano added a double and a pair of singles in the opening slugfest, but AU fell just shy after rallying for six runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Saxon also scored three runs and tallied an RBI. Junior shortstop Thomas Padro, first-baseman Erick Sanderson, designated hitter Tony Price, left-fielder Shawn Delmontagne and catcher Brett Scarberry each tallied two hits in the contest.

Anderson took an early one-run lead when Romano led off the home half of the first inning with a sharp single to center field. Padro moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and he crossed the plate on Saxon's double to center.

Mars Hill took a brief 3-1 advantage in the top of the third, but AU answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame after loading the bases with just one out. Padro raced home from third on a wild pitch and Saxon scored his first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Blake May.

The Lions tallied a pair of three-run innings in both the fourth and sixth frames to push out to a 9-3 lead and added a pair of scores in the seventh inning to build an eight-run cushion before the Trojans' offense came to life, while nearly batting around in the bottom of the inning.

Saxon, Sanderson and May opened the frame with consecutive singles and all three eventually came around to score. Delmontagne followed with a two-out double and crossed the plate on Scarberry's RBI-single to centerfield.
Mars Hill responded with a solo run in the eighth, while AU added two runs in the eighth to close within three.

Game #2
Mars Hill 6, Anderson 2

Mars Hill opened the nightcap with four runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to the win.

The Lions' Greg Smith scattered six hits as he claimed the complete-game victory, while AU's Erick Sanderson suffered the setback after surrendering six runs off seven hits in six full innings of work.

Anderson tallied back-to-back runs in the third and fourth innings to trim the deficit to just 4-2, but MHC pushed two runs across in the sixth to set the final score.

Anderson plays host to Erskine Monday evening at Memorial Stadium, with first-pitch slated for 6 p.m.