DUE WEST, S.C. – The Erskine College baseball team (20-15, 9-11 CC) was defeated by No. 28 Wingate University (24-13, 13-5 SAC) by a score of 5-2 at Grier Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Fleet entered into the ninth inning trailing 5-0, but battled back and brought the winning run to the plate but fell just short.

THE ESSENTIALS 
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Coming off a victory over a top-10 opponent yesterday, Erskine was hoping to build on its momentum as they took on another elite team out of the South Atlantic Conference. But, the visiting Bulldogs struck early, scoring five runs in the first two frames and taking a commanding lead. Daemon Woodruff came out of the Fleet bullpen in just the second inning and put out the fire, stranding a pair of runners to keep the deficit at five. And Woodruff did plenty more than just get out of an early jam as he had his best performance of his Erskine career on Tuesday, pitching five and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief for the Fleet, and keeping Erskine well within striking distance. However, the Erskine offense was held in check through the first six frames, so the game entered into the seventh with the Fleet trailing 5-0. The Fleet finally put together a threat against the Wingate starter in the bottom of the seventh but were unable to plate a run. Kevin Heinrich stranded a leadoff double in the top of the eighth and kept the Bulldogs where they were at. Carlos Gonzalez led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk, but an unfortunate line-drive double play ended the Fleet's chances in that frame. Nick Pazos recorded a pair of strikeouts in the ninth as the Erskine bullpen totaled seven and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball and sent the game to the bottom of the ninth with the 5-0 scoreline. Even after the first two batters of the inning were retired, the Fleet refused to go quietly, and Tariq Bacon ended the shutout with a solo home run, his eighth of the season. Christian Rivera and Dale Francis, Jr. followed by drawing walks, and Ashby Smith put some game pressure on the Bulldogs with an opposite-field RBI double to make it a 5-2 game. Jaden James came off the Fleet bench and worked a walk, loading the bases, and bringing the winning run to the plate. But, the Fleet's late rally came up just short as they were beaten by a score of 5-2.

THE PLAYER
Daemon Woodruff put together easily his best outing of his young Erskine career, tossing five and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball out of the Fleet bullpen. The junior from Titusville, Florida surrendered just one base hit and struck out six to lead a huge relief effort from the Erskine 'pen.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Erskine is back in action on Thursday as they return to conference play and host No. 6 Mount Olive (24-8, 12-6 CC) for a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. Thursday's pair of games will replace the originally scheduled three-game series this weekend between the teams as a result of anticipated poor weather coming in the Due West area.

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