DUE WEST, S.C. – The Erskine College baseball team (26-24, 15-14 CC) defeated Wingate University (27-22, 18-12 SAC) by a score of 13-5 in the Fleet's 2024 regular season finale at Grier Field on Monday afternoon.

Erskine got another quality start from Ryan Cole and mashed five home runs to knock off the Bulldogs.

THE ESSENTIALS 
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Wingate hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to take an early lead, but an errant pickoff attempt by the Bulldogs in the bottom half allowed Josean Sanchez to score and cut the deficit in half. Starting pitcher Ryan Cole worked around a pair of singles in his second of inning of work, and Erskine took advantage of more Wingate miscues in the bottom half. After a David Hernandez walk and a double from Carlos Gonzalez, Jude Littrell's sacrifice fly tied the game at 2. It appeared Wingate was going to limit the damage there, but a two-out error scored Gonzalez and extended the inning for Jorge Pascual. And the Fleet designated hitter made it hurt, launching a two-run home run to cap a four-spot by the Fleet in the second, giving them their first lead of the afternoon. Cole began to find a rhythm on the mound in the next few frames, and Erskine kept tacking on runs. Sanchez delivered an RBI single in the fourth, and home runs from Christian Rivera and Daniel Hernandez in the fifth made it a 9-2 game. Cole departed during the seventh inning, and Wingate took advantage of some Fleet miscues to get within four at the stretch. But, Rivera got all three of those runs back on his own, with a three-run blast down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh. David Hernandez followed with his fifth big fly of the season a few pitches later and Erskine had opened it back up, leading 13-5. Kyle Knoll, who came on to relieve Cole in the seventh, retired the final seven batters he faced, picking up his first collegiate save to put the finishing touches on a commanding win in the Fleet's regular season finale.

THE PLAYER
Redshirt senior outfielder Christian Rivera went 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs and four RBIs, including a clutch three-run blast in the seventh inning to hold off any late comeback efforts from the Bulldogs. This is the third multi-home run game of Rivera's Erskine career.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Erskine turns its attention to the postseason, where the Fleet will be the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Tournament in Gastonia, N.C. Erskine is back in the play-in round for a rematch against No. 9 seed Francis Marion University (18-29, 9-21 CC) on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Patriots ended the Fleet's season in this same round a year ago, downing the Fleet by a score of 3-1 in the play-in game.

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