Due West, SC---The 18th ranked Flying Fleet scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held on for an 11-10 victory over St. Andrews in the Conference Carolinas series opener Friday afternoon at Grier Field.
The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Ethan Powell scored on a single by Josh Axelson and Charles Weber scored when Kyle Norris reached on a fielders choice. The Fleet tied the game up in the bottom of the second when John Bolding (Pickens, SC, Pickens High School) hit a two run home run over the left center field wall.
The Knights responded in the third with five runs to make it a 7-2 game. The Fleet would make it a 7-3 game in the bottom half of the inning when Chas Anthony (Pickens, SC, Pickens High School) singled to score Keith Hill (Abbeville, SC, Abbeville High School). Erskine would add three more runs the very next inning to make it a 7-6 game. The big blow of the inning was a two run single by Anthony.
The Fleet tied the game up in the seventh on a RBI double by Shawn Glover (Columbia, SC, Richland Northeast High School), who later scored on a single by Greg Huff (McDonough, GA, Henry County High School) to give Erskine the 8-7 lead. St. Andrews would retake the lead in the eighth with a RBI double by Weber and a two run double by Axelson to give the Knights a 10-8 lead. Erskine once again responded to the Knights rally in the bottom half of the inning. Bryan Fogle (Lexington, SC, Lexington High School) reached on an error to lead off the inning and then Anthony walked to put the tying run on base. Matt Schneider (Greenville, SC, Greenville High School) sacrificed the runners into scoring position with Bolding coming to the plate. Bolding then blasted his second home run of the game over the left field wall to put the Fleet up 11-10. Atlee Pearson (Duncan, SC, Byrnes HS) who had come into the game in the eighth recorded a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Bolding led the Fleet at the plate going 3-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, while Anthony was 2-3 with three runs driven in.
Weber was 3-4 with a double and RBI for the Knights while Samson Williams was 3-4 with a run batted in. Travis Lee took the loss for St. Andrews allowing four runs in two innings of work.
With the win Erskine improves to 20-7 overall and 5-5 in the conference while St. Andrews falls to 5-20 and 3-7. The two teams will conclude their series with a double header tomorrow starting at 12:00 pm.
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