YOUNG HARRIS – David Atwood, Trey Rogers and Mike Medori drove in three runs each as the Young Harris College baseball team rolled to a 17-8 victory over Bloomsburg on Friday night at Zell B. Miller Field.
Bloomsburg (5-5) scored a run on three hits in the top of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead.
However, Young Harris (15-9) answered in the bottom of the frame and sent Huskies starting pitcher Matt Kline to the dugout with one out as the Mountain Lions plated seven runs on four hits.
Zach Bricknell, who went 2-for-4, walked to begin the inning and stole second. With one out, Atwood, who went 2-for-5, was hit by a pitch and Jack Morrow walked to load the bases. Bricknell came in on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1. Josh Rudnik, who was 2-for-3, drew a walk and Zeke Gribble singled through the right side to plate Atwood. Rogers, who went 2-for-5, followed with a base hit up the middle, scoring Morrow and Rudnik as Gribble stopped at second. Both advanced a base on a balk by relief pitcher Gino D’Amato. Medori ripped a two-out double to left center to bring Gribble and Rogers in. Bricknell, batting for the second time in the inning, drilled a double to right, scoring Medori from second to give the Mountain Lions a commanding 7-1 advantage.
Young Harris added to the margin in the second.
Morrow walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Rudnik singled to left to move Morrow to third. Gribble plated Morrow on a sacrifice fly to center to increase the lead to 8-1. Rudnik scored when Rogers reached on an error by the Huskies third baseman to push the advantage to 9-1.
The Mountain Lions, who have won seven straight, continued to push across runs by adding a pair of runs in the third inning to take an 11-1 lead.
With one out, Bricknell singled to right center and Tommy Ferguson, who went 2-for-5, doubled down the line in left. Atwood followed with a base hit to left center to score Bricknell and Ferguson.
The Huskies used a grand slam home run by Scott Runzer to cut the Young Harris advantage to 11-5 in the top of the fifth inning.
Bloomsburg continued to chip away at the Young Harris lead by scoring three more runs in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 11-8, but that was as close as the Huskies would get as the Mountain Lions scored six runs in the final two innings to take the 17-8 victory.
Moore (3-3) earned the victory in pitching five innings. He gave up five runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Nick Boutwell and Oliver Pratt, who earned the save, pitched in relief.
Kline (0-1) took the loss in working just 0.1 of an inning. He surrendered six runs on two hits with three walks and one strikeout. D’Amato, Eric Geedey and Nick Donofry worked in relief.
The Mountain Lions play a single, nine-inning, game at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 12 at Zell B. Miller Field against Bloomsburg and Young Harris concludes the series with the Huskies at noon on Sunday, March 13.
Go to http://yhcathletics.athleticsite.net/livestats/bb/xlive.htm for Live Stats of all games.
YHC Athletics
