Baseball | 2/27/2011 6:59:40 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Methodist baseball team took the early lead and held on for the 8-3 win over LaGrange College on Sunday.

Tripp Lancaster led off the first wiht a single and moved to second on Sergio Davis' sacrifice before stealing third. Shawn Lovette, Brian Inghram and Trey Such followed up with hits before Brandon Thigpen finished the rally with a sacrifice fly to help the Monarchs the 3-0 lead.

Methodist added two runs in the second after Dustin Brown was hit by a pitch and Lancaster singled. Davis followed up with a double down the left field line to score both runners. LaGrange countered with an unearned run in the third, but Methodist came right back with doubles from Inghram and Thigpen for the 6-1 lead.

Such scored in the fifth on a single from Chris Perry for the 7-1 lead, but LaGrange came back with a run in the seventh and the eighth. Rusty White came on to pitch with the bases loaded and forced the double play to get the Monarchs out of the eighth. Methodist added an insurance run in the eighth after Lovette reached on an error and Inghram hit his third double of the day to score Lovette.

Lancaster and Inghram finished 3-for-4 while Perry went 2-for-3.

Andrew Womble pitched 6.2 innings with five strikeouts to get the win while White earned a save in 1.2 innings of relief.

The Monarchs will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Immaculata at 4 p.m.

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