Baseball | 2/9/2014 7:40:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Facing Roanoke to start its season for the third year in a row, Methodist claimed a pair of victories against the Maroons on Sunday afternoon at Armstrong-Shelley Field. The final scores were 4-2 and 2-1, respectively.
                     
In the opening game of the twinbill, MU (2-0) got on the board in the first inning as starting pitcher Josh Howard took advantage of a throwing error by his Roanoke counterpart Cameron Holshouser (0-1) and drove in Chris Power with an RBI single.
 
On the mound, Howard (1-0) handled the Maroons' (0-2) lineup to the tune of 11 strikeouts and no walks over seven scoreless frames. He scattered four hits.
 
Methodist extended its edge to 2-0 as Matt Jack brought Howard across home plate with an RBI double in the sixth. Steven Kirby had a sacrifice fly to score Alex Rodriguez in the eighth, and Stephen Nalls added an RBI single to account for the Monarchs' last run.
 
After pitching a scoreless eighth in relief of Howard, Josh Ayers trotted back out to the hill for the top of the ninth with Methodist ahead by four runs, 4-0, and gave up two runs following back-to-back run-scoring groundouts by Collier Donald and Clark Crutchfield, respectively, to trim MU's edge to two runs, 4-2. Ayers would strike out Boonewell Hagy with a runner on to nail down the Methodist win and earn the two-inning save.
 
Rodriguez went 3-for-4 to pace a nine-hit attack by Methodist, and Power had a triple and scored a run. In addition to his standout pitching, Howard totaled two base hits and two runs scored.
 
Kevin Oakey and Will Black each had two hits apiece for Roanoke.
 
In the nightcap, Roanoke would go ahead first this time via Criag Kiley run-scoring single off Methodist game two starter Michael Inman (1-0) that plated Oakey in the fourth. The Maroons' lead proved to be brief, however, as consecutive base hits by Tyler Hardee and Cody Molosky knocked out Roanoke's Jacob McMillan from the mound in the bottom of the fifth. His replacement, Chad Hill (0-1), surrendered an RBI groundout to Power, knotting the score up at 1-1.
 
Methodist would tack on the decisive run in the sixth as a bases-loaded passed ball allowed Matt Jack to score from third base, setting the stage for Inman to qualify for the win.
 
Rett Lee entered in the seventh to relieve Inman and worked around four Roanoke hits to secure the Methodist win. Following consecutive two-out singles in the ninth by Hayden Lee and Mattox, respectively, Lee induced the day's final out as Devin Cassity flew out to right field to pick up the save.
 
Hardee had two hits for Methodist, including a double. Inman picked up the win after going six innings and allowing four hits, one run and four walks. He also struck out five batters.
 
Mattox had three of Roanoke's eight hits in game two. Hill took the loss as he gave up the winning run in 1.2 innings and walked three batters.
 
The Monarchs will return to play as it hosts the Methodist Diamond Invitational next weekend, and is set to square off with Rhodes on Friday night. First pitch is set for 4:00 pm.