CARY, N.C.  Methodist's 22nd-ranked baseball team swept Monday's USA South Athletic Conference doubleheader at William Peace University in very different fashions -- 12-0 in Game 1 and 9-4 in 10 innings in the nightcap -- but nonetheless came away with a pair of victories and a sweep of the three-game set.

Will May led the hit parade that produced 21 runs on the day, carrying a 4-for-4, 3-RBI outing from the opener into Game 2 in which he was 2-for-4 and produced the game-winning RBI.

THE ESSENTIALS
Final scores: Methodist def. William Peace, 12-0 (7 inn.); Methodist def. William Peace, 9-5 (10 inn.)
Records: Methodist 28-6 (17-4 USA South), William Peace 9-24 (5-16)
Location: USA Baseball Complex; Cary, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Matthias Carter drilled the third pitch of Game 1 over the fence in right-center field to spark Methodist's bats. And May's one-out double in the top of the second turned into the second run on Ethan Carmack's RBI-triple into center field.
• Another run was pushed across the plate in the third before May's 2-out, 2-RBI single scored Clay Richardson and Alex Kachler.
• Two more runs were added in the fourth, and then a five-run sixth pounded in the final nail as the game ended after the seventh via the 10-run rule in the conference.
• Tristan Luck was magical on the mound for Methodist, going all seven innings while surrendering just a pair of hits and one walk, and fanning three over the course of his 82-pitch victory.
• May collected three RBI to lead the Monarchs, but Carmack's two lead-off triples in a 3-for-4 afternoon were a big help. Carter added another hit and another RBI during the victory.
• William Peace erased a 1-0 deficit in Game 2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, then added two more in the second.
• The Monarchs chipped away with one run each in the third and fourth innings before taking back the lead in the sixth on a Jacob Austin looping 2-RBI single that found green grass in the triangle between the shortstop, left and center fielders.
• Tyler Brown had recovered nicely on the mound from the early runs he had surrendered, and finished his night with the lead and a 13-pitch strikeout-the-side seventh inning.
• The effort would not earn the victory, however, as the Pacers scratched for a tying run in the bottom of the eighth off Will Walker.
• After Thomas Dean pulled off his own 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the ninth -- two infield groundouts and a swinging strikeout -- the Monarchs exploded for four runs in the top half of the 10th.
• With one out, Tucker Criswell's warning-track fly ball opened the frame, Richardson reached on a hit by pitch and Parker Clayton earned a walk. May stepped into the box and drilled a single back up the middle, and Richardson never slowed rounding third with the wind-milling arm of Head Coach Tom Austin sending him home.
• Richardson slid under the tag for what would become the game-winning run.
• Three more runs would come in, giving Dean all the breathing room he needed to close the deal in the bottom of the inning -- strikeout, infield groundout, can-of-corn fly out.

NUMBERS

• Brown did not get the win in Game 2, but went seven innings, the last five scoreless, while scattering eight hits.
• Dean picked up the win in the nightcap with 2.0 innings on the mound, needing just 16 pitches to record six outs, fanning a pair and not allowing a base runner.
• May finished Monday with six hits in eight at-bats, and collected four RBI.
• Austin was hitless in the opener, but responded with a 4-for-6 outing in Game 2, adding three RBI.
• Methodist won the opener of the series on Sunday by an 8-0 count.

NEXT UP
Methodist will host, but as the away team, Greensboro College Thursday at 6 p.m. at Armstrong-Shelley Field. Soggy conditions at Greensboro's home field, combined with the approaching end of the regular season, forced the Pride-hosted three-game set to begin on the Monarchs' home field. The series is scheduled to conclude with a doubleheader at Greensboro Saturday afternoon.