ATLANTA, Ga. (Baseball) – The Paine College Lions baseball team traveled to Atlanta, Ga. to face the Maroon Tiger of Morehouse College in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) match up. The Lions won the first game, 6-3, dropped game two, 6-4, and won game three with a score of 11-7.
With this series, Paine moves to 24-17, overall and 11-6 in the SIAC. Morehouse drops to 17-25, on the season, and 5-13 in league play.
In game one, the Lions got on the board in top of the first inning when
Jahziel Morel hit a home run to drive in himself,
Fentress Henderson, and
Jalen Horton, 3-0. Horton singled to first base, advanced to second base when
Kendrick Elder grounded out, and stole third base. Henderson walked to reach first base.
The third inning saw Paine put up two more runs.
Adam Martin doubled to left field to score Elder, 4-0. Elder singled to reach first base and stole second base. Morel hit a sacrifice fly and drove in Henderson, 5-0. Henderson walked to reach first base.
The Maroon Tigers got their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bryan Armstead doubled down the left field line to drive in Julian Stephens, 5-1. Stephens reached first base on an error, and stole second.
In the top of fifth inning, the Lions scored another run when
Jordan Deadwyler doubled to centerfield and scored
Ricky Caruajal, 6-1. Caruajual singled to reach first base.
Morehouse scored the last two runs of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Elijah Sudduth singled through the left field to drive in Xavier Floyd, 6-2. Floyd singled to reach first base, advanced to second on a single, and moved to third base one wild pitch. Zachary Lowe scored when Derrick Lewis grounded into a double play, 6-3. Lowe singled to reach first base, and advanced to second and third base on wild pitches.
Evan Krenz picked up the win for game one after a pitching a complete game. Krenz finished the game with seven hits, three runs, and seven strike outs.
Daron Bowling suffered the loss for the Maroon Tigers. Bowling pitched seven innings for seven hits, six runs, six walks, and five strike outs.
In game two, Morehouse was able to pull out a win over the Lions by capitalizing off of Paine's errors and lack of hitting.
Paine score one run in top of the first and fourth inning and two runs in the top of the seventh inning.
The Maroon Tigers score three runs in the bottom of the third inning, one run in the bottom of the fifth inning, and two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Juan Berger suffered the loss for the Lions with five inning pitched. He finished the day with 14 hits, six runs, three walks, and five strike outs.
Kristopher Skinner took the win for Morehouse with a complete game. Skinner closed out the game with eight hits, four runs, five walks and three strike outs.
In game three, Paine took control early in the game and never let up. The Lions scored runs in six of nine innings. Henderson started the scoring barrage with a home run in the top of the second inning to score himself and Elder.
Morehouse attempted to rally in the bottom of the eighth inning by scoring five runs. The strong close out pitching of
Zach Rader halted their comeback.
Adam Martin swiped the win for Paine as he pitched seven innings for 12 hits, seven runs, four walks, and seven strike outs. Rader finished the game with no runs, no hits, and two walks.
Anthony Dodd suffered the loss for the Maroon Tigers with four innings pitched. He finished the day with seven hits, six runs, two walks and three strike outs.
The Lions will close the regular season with a road trip on April 23-24 to Montgomery, Ala. to face Tuskegee University. The series will open with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 23 at noon and 2 p.m. Paine also seeks to move into first place in the SIAC Eastern division as the tournament draws near.
