Baseball | 3/20/2010 3:42:17 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Ferrum fought back from a 7-3 deficit to move within one run, but the Monarchs held on for the 8-7 USA South win

The Monarchs opened up the scoring with a two-out rally in the second inning. Brian Goodwin and Tyler Younger drew walks and advanced to second and third on a balk. Matt Quick singled up the middle to score both runners and give Methodist the 2-0 lead. Quick stole second and scored on Ryan Stack's single.

Ferrum tied the game in the fourth with three runs on four hits, but the Monarchs responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Shawn Lovette doubled and moved to third on Brian Inghram's sacrifice. Lovette stole home to give Methodist the 4-3 lead before Trey Such and Brian Halpin followed up with back-to-back home runs.

The Monarchs added a run in the sixth before the Panthers came back with a run in the top of the seventh. Lovette hit a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh for Methodist to take the 8-4 lead. The Panthers rattled off another four hits in the top of the eighth to move within one run, but relief pitcher Rusty White shut down the Ferrum offense in the ninth to preserve the 8-7 win.

Quick finished 4-for-5 for the Monarchs with two RBI. Such was 3-for-5 with two RBI and Stack went 2-for-3. Landon Jordan picked up the win on the mound with 6.1 innings pitched and seven strikeouts. Tre' Britt came in for 1.1 innings before White earned the save in the final 1.1 innings.

Brian Bowles took the loss for Ferrum in 4.1 innings pitched.

The Monarchs and Panthers will be back for game two of the series on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Box Score