Baseball | 2/22/2009 7:10:00 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Lynchburg Hornets scored two unearned runs and added an insurance run in the ninth to defeat Methodist 3-1 Sunday afternoon.

The Monarchs (5-3) had the first scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second when senior Dustin Proctor drew the leadoff walk and moved to second on senior Brad Davis' sacrifice. Proctor stole third but was left stranded. Lynchburg came back and scored an unearned run in the third inning to take the 1-0 lead.

Davis led off with a single in the fifth, was sacrificed to second stole third but the Monarchs could not get him home. The Hornets added another unearned run in the seventh to lead 2-0, but the Monarchs capitalized on a Lynchburg error in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to one. Davis doubled to left and scored on junior Brian Halpin's pop up in shallow left center.

The Hornets scored in the ninth on two hits to lead 3-1. Proctor drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning and moved to second on senior Mike Twichell's single up the middle but the rally fell short as Lynchburg prevailed with the win.

Freshman Michael Mahaffey pitched eight innings for the Monarchs scattering five hits without an earned run. He struck out eight on the day. Junior Alex Sholar finished in relief.

Connor Thompson earned the win for the Hornets going eight and a third with five strikeouts.

Davis finished 2-for-3 for hte Monarchs while sophomore Shawn Lovette was 2-for-4.

The Monarchs will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Tuesday to face Alma at 5 pm.

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