Box Score Due West, SC – The Flying Fleet (1-1) erupted for six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 5-5 tie and held off a ninth inning rally to defeat Brevard (0-1) 11-8 Tuesday afternoon in non conference baseball action.  The victory also gave Erskine College head coach Kevin Nichols his 400^th career win in 13 seasons leading the Fleet.

The Tornados scored a run in the top of the first when Tarron Robinson drew a two out walk and then scored on a single by Randy O’Dell.  Neither team would score for the next three innings, but Brevard would take advantage of two Erskine errors in the top of the fifth two push their lead to three.  In the bottom half of the inning, freshman Cody Spence (Belton, SC, Belton-Honea Path HS) would draw a one out walk, and then score on a two run home run by Chase Corn (Travelers Rest, SC, Blue Ridge HS) to cut the lead to one.  The Fleet would tie the game up at three when Logan Galliher (Taylorsville, NC, Alexander Central HS) and Drew Willingham (Greenwood, SC, Greenwood HS) hit back to back doubles.  Brevard would regain the lead again with another unearned run in the top half of the sixth. 

Erskine would respond in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to take their first lead of the game at 5-4.  In the top of the eighth for the Tornados, Eric Renegar would hit a two out triple and then score on an errant throw from the outfield to tie the game at five.  Cameron Yost (Simpsonville, SC, Hillcrest HS) led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a single from Corn.  Galliher and Willingham would draw back to back walks to push the go ahead run across for the Fleet.  Josh Purvis (Valdosta, GA, Armstrong Atlantic University) would then single to right field to score two and make it a 8-5 game.   Will Huff (Sugar Hill, GA, North Gwinette HS) would follow with a three run home run to left field to close out the scoring and make it an 11-5 game.  Brevard would make the game interesting in the top of the ninth with an RBI single by Whit Bowen and a two run triple by John Slade, but Erskine would hold on for the victory. 

O’Dell led the Tornados at the plate going 2-3 with two RBI’s, while Bowen and Renegar also added two hits each.  Thomas Gill (0-1) took the loss allowing six runs on six hits in 1.2 innings of relief.

Huff led the Fleet on offense going 3-5 with a home run and three runs driven in, while Purvis finished 3-5 with two RBI’s.  Chase Norman (Blacksburg, SC, Blacksburg HS) (1-0) picked up the win pitching retiring the only batter he faced in the top of the eighth inning.

Erskine will host Stillman in a four game series this weekend with double headers on both Friday and Saturday starting at 12:00.

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