Baseball Splits with Coker
April 4, 2012Bueker drives in four runs
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions’ baseball team split a non-conference double-header with Coker College Wednesday afternoon at Henderson Field. MHC is now 15-26 overall while the Cobras took their season record to an even 20-20.
Michael Bueker led MHC in the double-header hitting .571 with four RBI, three doubles and two runs scored. Coty Pate went 3-5 with a homerun, two doubles and the same number of runs scored. Joey Belviso added three RBI on three hits including one homerun.
Game 1: MHC 6, CC 3
Mars Hill took a 4-0 lead in their first at-bat on four hits including homeruns from Joey Belviso, Coty Pate and Christian Diaz. Belviso’s was a two-run shot.
The Cobras cut the lead to 4-3 in the second frame on one hit and two Lion errors. Matt Mayo plated Pate on a single to left in the third inning to extend the Lions’ lead to 5-3. Pate reached on a lead-off double in the inning. Jake Wooten ended the scoring in the sixth frame when he crossed the plate on a Cobra error.
Tim Crawford threw 5.2 innings scattering three hits while striking out six batters to pick up the win (3-5) on the mound for MHC. John Lauttenbach took the loss (1-1) on the hill for the Cobras.
Game 2: CC 12, MHC 9
Coker won the nightcap, 12-9. The teams combined for 32 hits in the contest. After trading a pair of runs in the first inning, Coker scored five runs in the second stanza on seven hits highlighted by a three-run homerun by Jake Frazier to take a 7-2 advantage. The Cobras would never trail again.
The Cobras added single runs in the third and fourth inning to extend their lead to 9-2. Michael Bueker hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Tommy Scala and bring the Lions within six runs (12-6) of Coker. After the Cobras scored one run in the fifth inning, MHC exploded for five runs in the sixth frame to cut the deficit to just two runs (10-8). Bueker had a two-RBI double in the at-bat.
The Cobras answered scoring two runs in their final at-bat on two hits. Brinley Griffin and Fico Kondla accounted for the RBI’s. The Lions pushed one final run across in the bottom of the seventh but that was as close as they could get before Andrew Goot was able to end the game for Coker on the mound.
Dan Meyer picked up the win (5-4) for Coker on the mound pitching 2.1 innings in relief. Sam Laws took the loss (2-1) on the hill for the Lions.
MHC will play a three-game SAC series at Lenoir-Rhyne this weekend. The teams will play at single game on Friday at 6 p.m. and then play a double-header on Saturday at 12 p.m.
