FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Methodist baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader against the Scots of Covenant College on Saturday afternoon at Armstrong-Shelley Field to conclude its 2016 season.
 
The Monarchs fell, 6-1, in game one before coming up short, 12-9, in game two. With the two losses, the Monarchs finish with an overall record of 20-18, while the Scots finish at 23-17.
 
Prior to the game, the Monarchs hosted their second annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, honoring law enforcement from a variety of agencies, including the Fayetteville Police Department, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
 
In game one, Covenant went ahead, 1-0, in the top of the third on a fielder's choice by Trenton Nobles, before the Monarchs evened the score, 1-1, with their only run of the game in the fourth on an error by the Scots.
 
Covenant took back the lead in the fifth and never looked back, scoring five runs on three hits in the fifth for the eventual winning score of 6-1.
 
Lucas Scott was 2-for-4 and scored once and Alex Rodriguez and Stephen Nalls had one hit apiece.
 
Luke Harvey finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jay Epperson was 2-for-3 and scored twice.
 
Methodist's starting pitcher, Seth Beard (3-4), was given the loss after tossing the first 5.0 innings and allowing six runs (5 ER) on five hits with four strikeouts before Aaron O'Neil entered in relief for the remaining 4.0 innings and allowed just three hits with three strikeouts.
 
Garrett Kriston (9-3) went the way for the Scots, pitching all 9.0 innings and allowing one run and just four hits with 11 strikeouts.
 
Game two saw Methodist reach the board first, grabbing an early 1-0 lead in the first. Rodriguez led the inning off with a single to right center and back-to-back ground outs by Scott and Davis Cass advanced him to third. An RBI single by the next batter, Nalls, plated Rodriguez for the 1-0 Monarch advantage.
 
The Green and Gold went ahead, 2-0, in the second when Nick Zieniuk scored on a ground-out ball by Rodriguez, before Covenant knotted things up, 2-2, in the fourth with a two-RBI double by Alex Kerr.
 
A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Rodriguez in the home-half of the inning gave the Monarchs back the lead, 3-2, but the Scots tied things once more, 3-3, on an error by MU, before scoring three runs with two outs on the board for their first lead of the game, 5-3.
 
The top of the sixth saw Covenant extend its lead to 11-3, scoring six runs on seven hits and three Methodist errors.
 
A triple to left center by Rodriguez in the sixth scored two for the Green and Gold before a sacrifice fly by Cass tallied one more and brought the score to 11-6 before Methodist cut the deficit to two runs in the bottom of the seventh. With bases loaded, lead-off hitter Ray Lanners scored on a fielder's choice by Zieniuk before senior outfielder Alex Dockery sent a two-run homerun over the left-center fence to record MU's last two runs of the game and bring the score to 11-9.
 
Covenant tacked on an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Caleb Bloye, bringing the eventual winning score to 12-9.
 
Rodriguez finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored and Lanners went 3-for-4 and scored once. Dockery was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored and Colin Ford went 2-for-5 and scored once.
 
Harvey was 3-for-5 with an RBI and four runs scored and Perry Rigby was 4-for-5 with two RBI.
 
Tyler Hardee (5-3) was saddled with the loss after pitching the first 5.1 innings and allowing eight runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Greg Johnson entered in relief in the sixth and gave up three runs on four hits before Noah Dawson finished the inning, allowing just one hit. Thomas Dean, Ross Leggett and Logan Haines completed the game for the Monarchs and together allowed three hits with three strikeouts.
 
Matt Reitz earned the win for the Scots, tossing the first 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.
 
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