Baseball | 3/6/2010 5:35:03 PM

DANVILLE, Va. - The Monarchs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before building a 7-1 lead. They finished with the 8-5 win to move to 2-1 in the conference and 10-4 overall.

Shawn Lovette hit a double in the top of the first and Brian Inghram drew the walk. Trey Such hit a two-RBI double to score both runners for the early lead. Averett cut the lead to one in the bottom of the inning but the Monarchs rallied for four runs in the top of the second for the 6-1 lead. Matt Quick led off with a single in the top of the third and scored for the 7-1 lead.

Averett put together a three-run seventh inning on four hits to cut the lead to 7-4 but Such followed up with a home run to lead off the top of the eighth. The Cougars added a run in the bottom of the inning, but came up short as the Monarchs finished with the 8-5 win.

Tripp Lancaster went 4-for-5 while Such finished 3-for-5 with two RBI. Landon Jordan pitched 7.2 innings to earn the win with five strikeouts. Rusty White finished with 1.1 innings on the mound to pick up a save.

Methodist and Averett will play again tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Danville, Va. for the second game of the series.

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