Box Score
Box score
ANDERSON, S.C. - After Southern Wesleyan evened the score at 5-5
in the top of the sixth inning, designated hitter LJ Newman blasted
an eventual game-winning two-run home run in the bottom-half to
propel Anderson University baseball over SWU, 7-5, Wednesday
evening at Anderson Memorial Stadium.
With the victory, the Trojans have won four of their last five
contests and move two games above .500 to 11-9 overall. The setback
for the Warriors drops them to 5-15 on the season as they have now
fallen in seven of their last eight games.
Three Trojans posted two-hit performances, as Newman, senior
Brett Cash and graduate student Nick Bernardo all tallied a pair of
hits for the game, while Newman and Cash each knocked two-run
homers and finished the game with two RBI apiece. Bernardo also
drove in two runs with a run scoring triple in the second and an
RBI single to left field in the third.
As a team, Anderson posted 10 hits, marking the sixth straight
game AU has tallied double-figure hits. In addition to the
double-digit hit total, the Trojans bumped their team batting
average to above .300 on the season (.302).
Freshman right-hander Andrew Dill earned the start for the first
time in his collegiate career and finished with five innings
pitched while allowing three hits and two earned runs. After Dill
tossed four innings of no-hit ball, the right-hander faced problems
in the fifth when Warrior catcher Daniel Coleman connected on a
two-run home run for SWU's first hit of the contest.
Dill's day was done in the sixth and gave way to sophomore
right-hander Austin Smith who completed the inning after allowing
three unearned runs, which evened the score at 5-5. In the
bottom-half of the inning, after junior first baseman Steven Cooper
walked with two outs, Newman sent a 3-0 pitch over the left-center
wall to give Anderson a lead it would not relinquish.
The right-handed duo of Mitchell Cooksey and Michael Skelly
closed the door on the Warriors by not allowing a SWU hit in the
final three innings. By pitching the final two innings, Skelly
earned his third save of the season and struck out four Warrior
hitters.
Anderson returns to South Atlantic Conference play on Friday
when it begins a three-game series with Wingate from Memorial
Stadium. The series concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader
scheduled for 1 p.m.