Baseball | 3/8/2014 9:13:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist baseball team earned a split of a doubleheader with Piedmont on Saturday afternoon at Armstrong-Shelley Field. The Monarchs fell, 4-2, in game one, before earning 5-3 victory in the nightcap.
 
After the split, the Lion and Monarchs now sport identical 10-3 overall records and 4-1 marks in league play.
 
In the opener, the Monarchs twice rallied from one-run deficits to knot the game at 2-2 in the seventh inning on Pete Wildeboer's RBI base hit that plated Cody Molosky. However, the Lions answered with two runs in the eighth inning to earn the win. Back-to-back-back singles top open the inning for PC loaded the bases with nobody out. Michael Barnes then hit a slow roller back to MU pitcher Josh Ayers which he was unable to field cleanly and allowed the go-ahead run to score. Following a fielder's choice that forced Breck Davidson out at the plate, Austin Brick hit into another fielder's choice, this one allowing Evan Gresham to score for a 4-2 lead. Ayers then struck out Tyler Marcinko to end the inning.
 
Allen Tokarz came on for Piedmont to close out the game and struck out five while allowing two hits to nail down the save and make a winner of Matt Lisk. Lisk threw 7.0 innings and surrendered two runs on six hits, three walks and four strikeouts. Travis Johnson took the loss. He gave up three runs (2 ER) on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 7+ innings.
 
Wildeboer finished 2-for-5 and drove in both MU runs. Cody Molosky was 2-for-3 with a walk and scored twice.
 
For Piedmont, Davidson was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, and Gresham was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Barnes, Zack Johnson and Brick all drove in runs for the Lions.
 
In the nightcap, the Monarchs built a three-run advantage and then held on in the ninth for the split. Methodist took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Lucas Scott's bases-loaded walk that forced in Stephen Nalls. In the third inning, the Monarchs extended their lead to 3-0 and a Piedmont fielding miscue, and a sacrifice fly by Scott.
 
Sloppy play in the field led to a Piedmont run in the fifth inning that made it 3-1, before the Monarchs answered with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Steven Kirby laced a single to left that Josh Bailey played into a two-base error, allowing Molosky to score for a 4-1 lead. Josh Tulledge then drove in Steven Kirby with a groundout to make it 5-1.
 
Another MU error led to a Piedmont run in the seventh that made it 5-2. In the eighth, the Lions coaxed back-to-back walks out of Jacob Shumate to lead off the inning. Mikie Morrison replaced Shumate and induced a double-play groundball but left a runner on third with two outs. Marcinko was hit by a pitch to give the Lions runners on the corners, and another MU error, its third of the night, led to a Piedmont run and made it 5-3 with two runners on. Howver, Morrison got Griffin Olson to groundout to shortstop to end the game and pick up the save.
 
Darin Salter earned the win for MU, allowing two runs (1 ER) on three hits and three walks with one strikeout in 7.0 solid innings. Preston Graham took the loss after allowing five runs, but just one earned, on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
 
Nalls was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored to lead MU. Scott drove in a pair of runs, Wildeboer was 1-for-3 with a walk and Molosky and Kirby each had a base hit and scored once.
 
For Piedmont, Barnes was 1-for-2 with two walks and a pair of runs scored. Bailey was 1-for-3 with a walk.
 
The Monarchs are back on the field tomorrow when they wrap up their three-game set with Piedmont beginning at 2:00 pm.