LAGRANGE, Ga. – The Methodist baseball team dropped a pair of games to the host Panthers of LaGrange College, 11-8 and 5-1, on Sunday afternoon.
With the losses, the Monarchs fall to 16-12 overall and an even 7-7 in conference play while LaGrange improves to 22-10 on the overall season and 10-4 in league play.
Down 3-0 in the top of the second, the Monarchs came within one when
Alex Dockery singled to center field to score
Pete Wildeboer and
Ray Lanners.
The Monarchs tied the game, 3-3, in the third when Stephan Nalls scored on a throwing error by the Panthers before the home team regained the lead in its half of the inning when Cain Sauls scored on a line-out by Chad Pigg.
Methodist exploded for five runs in the top of fifth, gaining an 8-4 lead.
Alex Rodriguez led the inning off with a triple to right field and two batters later, scored on an RBI-double to right center by
Davis Cass.
Tyler Hardee reached after being hit by a pitch and an error on Lanner's hit allowed him to advance to second and Cass to score. Wildeboer loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch and after a pitching change by the Panthers,
Lucas Scott singled down the right-field line to score Hardee. A sacrifice bunt by
Colin Ford drove home Wildeboer and closed out the scoring for the Monarchs.
LaGrange recorded a single run in the bottom of the fifth before tallying six runs in the sixth to take back the lead and earn the eventual 11-8 win.
Ross Leggett (3-4) took the loss in game one, entering the game in the sixth inning to allow four runs on two hits.
Seth Beard started for the Green and Gold and gave up five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
Rodriguez finished 3-for-6 with one scored run and Lanners was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a pair of scored runs. Dockery went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and Scott was 3-for-4 with two RBI.
The Panthers once again gained an early advantage, tallying two runs in the bottom of the first.
After three innings of scoreless play, Methodist scored its only run of the game in the fifth. With runners on first and second, Rodriguez singled to center to score
Nick Zieniuk.
The Panthers tallied their last three runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by Sauls and an RBI double by Pigg.
Travis Johnson (4-2) took the loss after tossing 7.1 innings and giving up five runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.
Madison Cook finished the final 0.2 innings for the Green and Gold and allowed one hit.
LaGrange's pitching staff held the Monarchs to just three hits total in game two. Ryan Broaderick went 6.0 innings and allowed a run on just two hits. He walked two and struck out eight. Zach Tatham, Blake Schuck and Adam DeWitt gave up just one hit in each pitching a scoreless inning to close out the game.
Rodriguez, Cass and Zieniuk recorded the three hits for the Monarchs and
Austin Fuentes drew two walks.
Methodist will complete the three-game series with the Panthers tomorrow at 3:00 pm before it will travel to Ashland, Va. on Apr. 6 to take on the fifth-ranked Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets at 3:30 pm.
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