Baseball | 4/6/2013 9:02:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist baseball earned a split of a doubleheader with Greensboro on Saturday afternoon at Armstrong-Shelley Field. The Monarchs cruised to a 9-2 win in the opener, before falling, 3-2, in the nightcap.
 
Brandon Thigpen came up big for the Monarchs (17-17, 11-12 USA South) in the opener. He tossed 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just six hits and striking out four to pick up the win, and he aided his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.
 
The Monarchs raced out to a 6-0 lead with three runs in each of the first two innings, knocking Greensboro (14-22, 7-16 USA South) starter Alex Zapata from the game after just 1.2 innings. With two outs in the first inning, Thigpen's RBI single drove in Chris Power from third and put MU up 1-0. Travis Johnson followed with another single to move Thigpen to third before both runners scored on Tyler Younger's two-run double to center for a 3-0 lead.
 
In the second inning, Chris Power walked with one out to give the Monarchs runners on first and second and Alex Rodriguez then single to load the bases. Stephen Nalls lofted a sacrifice fly to left for a 4-0 lead and Thigpen then singled and took third on an error that allowed a pair of runs to come in as the Green & Gold took a 6-0 lead.
 
The Monarchs took advantage to a pair of Greensboro errors (part of five total miscues by the Pride in the game) in the third inning to scratch across another run and in the fifth inning, two more Greensboro errors led to two more unearned runs as the Monarchs stretched their lead to 9-0.
 
Greensboro scored a pair of runs in the eighth off of Josh Clarke on RBI singles by James Feldmann and Christian Snider to account for the final two runs.
 
Younger supplemented Thigpen's strong outing, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and and two runs scored. Power finished 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored and Johnson, Cody Molosky and Stephen Nalls all added a pair of base hits as well.
 
Zapata took the loss for the Pride, surrendering six runs (5 ER) on seven this and a walk with one strikeout in 1.2 innings. Feldmann led the Pride at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and Jordan Powell was 2-for-4.
 
In game two, Feldmann's solo home run in the top of the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie and Kristopher Peeden went the distance for the Pride, allowing just  two runs (1 ER) on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts as GC earned the split.
 
MU's Michael Inman nearly matched Peeden's effort, allowing only three runs (2 ER) on nine hits with three strikeouts in 9.0 innings.
 
Greensboro took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings, before the Monarchs tied the game at 2-2 with runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
In the fourth inning, Younger drove in Kirby with a groundball to shortstop to halve MU's deficit (2-1). The Monarchs then tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth when Moloksy led off the inning with a single, took second on a failed pickoff attempt and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Johnson. Alex Rodriguez then tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left.
 
The score remained at 2-2 until Feldmann came to bat with two outs in the eighth and launched a solo home run to left for the game-winning run.
 
Ronnie Hatfield had two of the Monarchs' four hits in the game, going 2-for-4. Kirby was 1-for-4 with a run scored and Molosky finished 1-for-2 with a run scored.
 
Cody York was 3-for-4 at the plate to lead GC. Feldmann finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and Steven Pfeiffer was 2-for-4 with a run.
 
The Monarchs and Pride will wrap up their three-game series on Sunday beginning at 2:00 pm.