Laurinburg, NC – The Erskine College baseball team completed a three game sweep of Conference Carolinas rival St. Andrews this weekend, winning 12-6 in game one on Friday and winning both games on Saturday 16-7 and 1-0.

On Friday, the Fleet came out of the gate swinging, with four consecutive hits to start the game. Greg Huff (McDonough, GA, Henry County High School) led the game off with a triple to right field and Chas Anthony (Pickens, SC, Pickens High School) would follow with his sixth home run of the season. Erskine would add four more singles in the inning to make it a 4-0 game. Drew Willingham (Greenwood, SC, Greenwood HS) would hit a solo home run in the third to put the Fleet up 5-0 and it looked as though they would cruise to the victory.

The Knights would take advantage of Erskine errors in the fourth and fifth innings to rally and take a 6-5 lead going into the sixth inning. The Fleet would take the lead in the seventh, when Matt Youngblood (Travelers Rest, SC, Blue Ridge CC) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game and then Zach McCarthy (Spartanburg, SC, Byrnes HS) would ground out to second base to drive in the go ahead run. It looked as though the Saints might take the lead back in the bottom half of the inning, when Michael Cantwell reached on an error to lead off the inning and then stole second, but the Fleet would bring in closer Atlee Pearson (Duncan, SC, Byrnes HS) who would retire the next three batters and end the Knight rally. Erskine would add three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to take the 12-6 victory.

Seven different Erskine players had two hits while Huff, Bolding, and senior Bryan Fogle (Lexington, SC, Lexington High School) all scored three times. Bolding and Youngblood both knocked in two Fleet runners. William Buzhardt (Columbia, SC, Ben Lippen High School) picked up his third win of the season allowing six runs (two earned) in six innings of work and striking out eight. Pearson would get his third save of the year allowing four hits in three innings and striking out three.

In the first game on Saturday, the Fleet would once again take the lead in the first inning. Huff would lead off the game with a single and then score when Anthony doubled to center field. St. Andrews would tie the game up in the bottom half of the inning, but that would be as close as the Knights would get. Erskine would explode for seven runs in the fifth inning, with the big blows being a two run home run from Huff and a grand slam by Willingham. The Fleet would add eight more runs in the final four innings as they took the 16-7 victory.

Huff led the Fleet at the plate going 3-6 with a home run and two RBI’s while Willingham was 2-6 with a home run and five runs driven in. Carlton Watts (Laurens, SC, Spartanburg Methodist) picked up the win allowing one run on six hits with eight strike outs in six innings of work.

The final game of the series would turn out to be a pitchers duel. Although both teams would have opportunities to score in the first four innings, neither team could take the lead. In the top of the fifth, Huff would line a one out double to right center field and then score when Anthony would blast a ground ball that the St. Andrews third baseman could not handle allowing Huff to score the go ahead run. In the bottom of the sixth, Manny Williams would lead the inning off with a bunt single and advance to third base on a throwing error to put the tying run at third with no one out. Erskine starter Russell Reid (Hudson, NC, South Caldwell HS) would strike the next batter out and then the Fleet would turn to Pearson who would strike out the next two hitters to get the Fleet out of the jam and hold on for the 1-0 victory.

Reid picked up the win allowing four hits and no runs in 5.1 innings of work, while Pearson picked up his second save of the weekend in 1.2 innings of work.

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

Game Three Box Score