Gaffney, SC – Trailing 4-3 with two outs in the top of the seventh, freshman Chase Corn (Travelers Rest, SC, Blue Ridge HS) blasted a two out three run home run to give the 15th ranked Fleet the lead and they would hold on for a 6-5 victory over Limestone in the Conference Carolinas series opener.
The Saints would take the lead in the bottom of the second, when Joe Maloney singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a passed ball. Erskine would tie the game up in the top of the fourth. John Bolding (Pickens, SC, Pickens HS) would single up the middle with one out and advance to third on Drew Willingham (Hodges, SC, Greenwood HS)'s second double of the game. Brian Laznik (Chardon, OH, Lakeland CC) would then blast a fly ball to the wall in right field that scored Bolding from third. The game would not remain tied long as Maloney would lead off the bottom half of the inning with a controversial home run down the left field line to give Limestone a 2-1lead.
Will Huff (Suga Hill, GA, North Gwinnett HS) would hit a one out solo homerun in the top of the fifth to tie the game and a solo shot by Bolding in the sixth would give the Fleet their first lead of the game. The lead would be short lived for Erskine as Maloney would double in the bottom half of the inning and then score on a home run by Jayvon Sanders to make it a 4-3 game.
After the first two Fleet batters were retired in the seventh, Phillip Herring (Dillion, SC, Dillion HS) and Casey Winckowski (Oregon, OH, Owens CC) would single to put runners on first and second for Corn. After the pitcher fell behind 2-0, Corn would blast his second home run of the season over the right center field wall to put Erskine up 6-4. The Saints would push a run across in the seventh to make it a one run game, but Atlee Pearson (Duncan, SC, Byrnes HS) came into the game in the eighth and shut the door to secure the win.
Huff, Bolding, and Willingham were the only Erskine players with two hits and Brian Laznik was 1-2 with an RBI. Andrew Guest (Easley, SC, Easley High School) (3-0) picked up his second win of the week allowing two runs on four hits in one inning of work. Pearson picked up his second save of the season allowing just two hits and striking out three. Atlee now moves just one save from tying former Erskine closer Jake Williams NCAA career saves record of32.
The two teams will conclude their series with a double header tomorrow starting at 12:00 pm.
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