YHC baseball drops game two against King College

By Ethan Burch, Sports Editor

On Friday, the Young Harris College baseball team lost to King College by a score of 8-1 after falling behind 4-0 in the first inning.

King College (14-10) struck again for two runs in the fifth inning to give the Tornado a 6-0 lead over the Mountain Lions. The final two runs for King College came in the top of the seventh inning.

YHC (17-17) put themselves on the scoreboard in the seventh inning when freshman Mike Medori scored the Mountain Lions’ only run of the game after being drove in by sophomore Zach Bricknell. However, the one run plated by Bricknell would not be enough to put the Mountain Lions in reach of a victory.

With the series split, YHC head coach Rick Robinson felt that the Mountain Lions were facing a competitive King College team.

“The King [College] team is a very good team,” said YHC Baseball Head Coach Rick Robinson. “They do some really good things on the bases, put the ball in play. Their pitchers work fast and throw their pitches for strikes, which really kept us off balance.”

Freshman Brice Merritt (1-4) started on the mound for the Mountain Lions. Merritt lasted 0.1 of an inning, and he allowed four runs on three hits and a walk. Merritt was relieved by freshmen pitchers Adam Moore and Nick Boutwell.

Alex Martin (2-0) started on the mound and earned the win for King College season. Martin gave up four hits, one walk and earned four strikeouts.

This match-up was the second game of the three-game weekend series between YHC and King College. After the YHC loss in game two, the series was tied at one a piece.

“I think in game one we played pretty well,” said Robinson. “We pitched well and did some really good things.”

The Mountain Lions will work off of their positives in game one to win the weekend series over King College.

The winner of the three-game series between YHC and King College will be decided at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 26.

YHC baseball drops match-up with Reinhardt

By Ethan Burch, Sports Editor
with information from wire reports

Waleska—On Wednesday, the Young Harris College baseball team fell 18-5 to Reinhardt College after falling behind by 10 runs in the game’s first inning.

The Eagles (8-13) started out the game with 10 runs in the first inning to get an early lead. Reinhardt had nine hits and capitalized off of one error by the Mountain Lions in the opening inning.

Reinhardt  extended their lead to 12 by scoring two runs in the third inning.

Reinhardt put the final touches on the win by scoring four runs in the fifth inning to go ahead 16-0.

YHC (16-13) then put themselves on the scoreboard by scoring five runs on three hits to put the game score at 16-5.

Reinhardt scored two runs to close out the 18-5 victory over the Mountain Lions.

Nick Galvin (0-1) started the game on the mound for the Mountain Lions. Galvin pitched for 0.2 of an inning giving up 10 runs on eight hits. Galvin would also account for two strikeouts and a walk. The Mountain Lions relief pitching in the game consisted of Tyler Isbell, Blake Fortune, Billy Demersky, Evan Carr and Taylor Topping.

Cory Cox (1-1) started on the mound for the Eagles and earned the win after throwing for 5.1 innings. Cox gave up five runs on four hits an accounted for four strikeouts and 13 walks. Cox was relieved by Chris Fletcher, Ricky Johnson and Jake Waters.

YHC will play North Greenville University in Tigerville, SC on Friday, March 18 at 3 p.m. This will be the first in a three-game series between the teams.

YHC baseball defeats Indiana University of Pennsylvania

By Ethan Burch, Sports Editor

Yesterday, the Young Harris College baseball team defeated Indiana University of Pennsylvania 19-4 in the first game of the Chad Gassman Classic.

The Chad Gassman Classic is a weekend series at Zell B. Miller Field that hosts YHC, IUP and Waldorf College. YHC is competing in the series in its first year as a four-year institution.

Freshman Adam Moore started on the mound for YHC. Moore (3-2) threw for five innings giving up four runs and four hits. Moore earned seven strikeouts while giving up three walks. Freshman Oliver Pratt gave up one hit in his two innings of relief to finish out the game for YHC.

Chris Douglas (1-1) started on the mound for the Crimson Hawks, giving up ten runs in just over two innings.

The Mountain Lions were led by the bats of freshman Jack Morrow, sophomore Zach Bricknell and freshman Ryan LaRose. Morrow struck for three hits on the day while Bricknell and LaRose each had two.

In the first inning, YHC (10-9) jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Crimson Hawks. The first Mountain Lions run was scored when Morrow knocked in Bricknell with a base hit. Freshman David Atwood would also score in the inning. Atwood’s run was followed by scoring of YHC base runners Rudnik and Moore.

IUP (2-3) answered by battling back in the top of the second inning with a four-run rally of their own when senior Frank Sirolli drove in three runs by delivering a two-out triple. At the end of two innings, the game was tied at four.

YHC busted the game wide open with a six-run rally in the bottom of the third inning to give the Mountain Lions a 10-4 lead.

The Mountain Lions used this same momentum to jump out to a 16-4 lead in the fourth inning thanks to another six-run rally.

YHC sealed the victory by scoring three runs in the sixth inning to give them a 19-4 lead. The score would cause the game to end in seven innings, resulting in a win for the Mountain Lions.

Baseball drops double header to Belmont Abbey

with information from wire reports

BELMONT, N.C. – After winning the first match-up Friday over Belmont Abbey, the Young Harris College Mountain Lions dropped both games of a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 11-3 and 17-9.

Young Harris College (1-5) got productive offensive afternoons from Zach Bricknell (4 H, 1 2B, 2 RBI) and Josh Rudnik (4 H, 1 RBI) in the losses. Rudnik (3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) took the loss in the first game, while Adam Moore (3.2 IP, 10 H, 10 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) was the losing pitcher for the Mountain Lions in the second game.

The Mountain Lions will conclude their four-game series with Belmont Abbey College (6-3) this afternoon with a 1:00pm game at Abbey Field.