Box Score
Box score
HARROGATE, Tenn. - Using the strength of 13 hits, Anderson
University baseball earned a key South Atlantic Conference victory
over league-leading Lincoln Memorial, 13-5, Friday afternoon at
LMU's Hennon Field.
With the win, the Trojans improve to an even 12-12 in SAC play,
while the Railsplitters drop to 25-13-1 overall and 15-6 within the
league. AU has now won six of its last eight contests and increased
its SAC winning streak to three straight.
The Trojan lineup was paced by the bottom-half of their lineup
as senior catcher Jonathan Zalud, who was slotted seventh, and
designated hitter LJ Newman, who was eighth, were a combined
7-for-9 with a home run, two doubles, two RBI and six runs scored.
Zalud finished the contest a perfect 4-for-4 with his seventh and
eighth doubles of the year, while Newman blasted his second home
run of the season in the sixth inning, closing the game
3-for-5.
Also posting multi-hit games was sophomore third baseman Garrett
Bernardo with a double and two runs scored, while senior left
fielder Nathan Galliford connected on his conference-leading 13th
home run of the season in the top-half of the fifth inning. For the
game, Galliford went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored.
Sophomores Kyle Bailey and Steven Cooper and junior Brett Cash
also added doubles, while Bailey and Cooper drove home two runs
apiece. Senior centerfielder Josh Hickman scored twice after
drawing two walks.
On the mound, junior right-hander JT Trujillo went five innings
and earned his fourth victory of the season allowing five hits and
one earned run with four strikeouts. Sophomore reliever Mitchell
Cooksey came into the game in the sixth and gave up a season-high
six hits, but limited LMU to just three runs en route to his second
save of the season.
The Trojans had at least one base runner in all but one inning
for the ballgame, as Anderson has now totaled double figure hits in
seven of its last nine contests. After the Railsplitters took a 1-0
lead in the bottom of the first, the visitors responded with two
runs in the second inning as AU took advantage of a LMU miscue,
which plated two runs.
With LMU evening the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the frame,
Galliford's fifth inning homer handed Anderson a 4-2 advantage.
Galliford, who is in a battle with Lincoln Memorial's Josh Coker
for the conference's home run lead, grabbed the outright advantage
and became the first player in the SAC this season to reach 13
round-trippers on the year.
Newman matched Galliford's home runs with one of his own in the
sixth over the left-center wall, giving Anderson a 6-2 lead. In
Newman's last three games, the designated hitter is batting .636
with three RBI and four runs scored.
LMU grabbed a run back in the sixth before the Black and Gold's
marathon eighth inning that saw six runs on five hits. Bailey and
Cooper headlined the inning with a pair of two-run doubles, while
Galliford notched an RBI single to propel AU to a 12-3 lead. After
AU added another run in the ninth, LMU's Kelvin Brito sent a
Cooksey pitch over the left-center field wall to cut into the
Anderson advantage, setting the final score.
Anderson seeks the conference series win on Saturday when the
three-game series wraps up with a doubleheader at Hennon Field.
First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.