HICKORY, N.C. – For the second straight outing, a pair of Trojans belted home runs and the Anderson baseball team split a South Atlantic Conference twin bill with 18th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne, winning the opener, 6-4, while dropping the nightcap, 13-1, Saturday afternoon at Durham Field.

Anderson moved to 15-9 overall and 2-7 in the league with the split, while snapping a four-game skid with the win in the opener. Lenoir-Rhyne went to 26-3 and 7-2 with its fourth win in five decisions and 23rd victory in 25 outings.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Game #1
Anderson 6, Lenoir-Rhyne 4
Kye Andress was 2-for-4 at the plate and led off the game with his first home run of the season. The Hendersonville, N.C., native added a single and a third inning walk, while scoring three times. Nick Vella was 3-for-5 in the opener with a two-run homer – his second of the year – and added a double and a single and a pair of RBI. Carlos Hernandez stayed hot by posting an RBI-double, a single and also reached base on a third-inning walk. Brayden Owens recorded two singles and a walk in the win. Jackson Van Ness added a single and was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning.

Freshman hurler Walker Noland improved to 3-2 on the season by limiting the Bears to two runs, while scattering nine hits over 5.2 innings. The right-hander equaled his season-high by fanning eight batters, while walking just two.

Junior Jackson Herring collected his team-leading fourth save of the year by working out of an eighth-inning jam and posting a near-perfect final two innings on the mound. The sidewinding right-hander struck out two batters and did not issue a free pass, while hitting a batter.

Game #2
Lenoir-Rhyne 13, Anderson 1
The Trojans managed just a pair of hits in the nightcap – a third-inning double by JC LeGrand and a seventh-inning double from Hernandez – with Fox drawing a one-out walk in the seventh to provide the only other AU base runner.

Andrew Imperatore (1-2) drew the start and suffered the loss after allowing four runs on two hits, while striking out one and walking two.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1
Andress gave the Trojans a quick lead by lifting his first home run of the season over the left-field fence, while Lenoir-Rhyne answered quickly to knot the score at 1-1 on Drew Yniesta's two-out homer in the bottom of the opening inning.

Andress drew a one-out walk in the third inning and quickly moved within 90 feet of the plate on back-to-back wild pitches, but the miscues didn't matter, as Vella followed with his second homer of the year – beyond the left-field fence – giving the Trojans a 3-1 edge and a lead they would not surrender.

AU increased its lead to 4-1 when Andress and Vella led off the fifth inning with back-to-back singles and Andress crossed the plate two batters later.

The Bears cut the lead in half with a solo run in the bottom of the sixth frame, with the Trojans adding a pair of much-needed insurance runs in the top half of the seventh frame. Vella led off with a double to the gap in left-center, moved to third on Fox's sacrifice bunt and scored when Hernandez pulled a double down the left-field line. Hernandez crossed the plate two batters later on Owens' clutch two out single to right field.

Lenoir-Rhyne opened the home half of the eighth inning with three consecutive singles and climbed within 6-3, forcing Herring to come in out of the bullpen. With the tying run at the plate, the USC Sumter transfer worked out of the jam by striking out Yniesta on three pitches, then retired two of the next three batters and preserved a 6-4 lead.

Both squads went down in order in the final inning, with neither team hitting the ball out of the infield.

Game 2
The Bears jumped on top early and led 6-0 after two innings. They put the game out of reach with a five-run fourth inning and built a 13-0 lead by adding a pair of runs in the fifth frame.

AU avoided the shutout when Fox drew a one-out walk in the seventh and scored on Hernandez's double to center field.

NOTABLES
• Coming into Saturday's doubleheader, the Bears had won 19 consecutive home games dating back to last year's season finale.
• The two teams combined to strand 22 runners on base in the opener, with LR leaving 14 on in the opener and the Trojans stranded eight in the first game.
• Lenoir-Rhyne improved to 19-1 at home this season.
• The Trojans are 5-6 away from home this season.
• The Trojans and Bears have met on 39 occasions, with Lenoir-Rhyne leading the all-time series, 26-13. The first-ever meeting between the two programs occurred during the 2009 campaign.
• LR has won seven of the last nine matchups, with AU winning two of the last four meetings.
• Nick Vella extended his hitting streak to 12 games in the opener.
• Carlos Hernandez owns a four-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 16 consecutive games.
• JC LeGrand has reached base safely in six consecutive games.

UP NEXT
AU will play host to Lander on Tuesday, before hitting the road for another conference weekend series at Mars Hill. The Trojans will be looking for a split of the season series with Lander after falling, 8-6, to the Bearcats in Greenwood on Feb. 22.