HICKORY N.C. | Rudy Gaona hit the game-tying triple and scored the winning run off a wild pitch in the seventh inning as Young Harris College defeated Lenoir-Rhyne University 6-5 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday (Feb. 20) evening at Bears Field.
The Mountain Lions improved to 6-5 overall while the Bears fell to 10-3. Young Harris returns to action Friday (Feb. 23) as they travel to Milledgeville, Georgia, to take on No. 22 Georgia College in a 6 p.m. Peach Belt Conference contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne jumped to an early lead in the first inning after Justin Dean scored on a throwing error. Will Jones made it a four-run lead with a bases-clearing double down the left field line later in the inning.
Skylor Murphy started a Mountain Lion four-run inning after a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth to score Gaona.
Bradley Klees scored after
Royce Woolfolk reached first after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Logan Worley tied the game at 4 after a single up the middle that scored Murphy and
Corley Reynolds.
The Bears took the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth after Zack Shoemaker sent the 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.
Gaona tied the game once more at 5 in the top of the seventh as he hit a triple to right-center field which allowed
Brett Graczyk to score. Later in the inning,
Cory Ewald drew a walk off a wild pitch that brought Gaona home to score.
The Mountain Lions threw three scoreless innings to hold on to win 6-5.
Jake Tomelevage (1-0) earned his first win of the season as he gave up just one hit with five strikeouts in three scoreless innings of relief. Peach Belt Pitcher of the Week
Michael Livingston picked up his first save of the season as he threw a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts, both looking.
Gaona went 3-for-5 at the plate with a RBI and two runs scored. Worley tallied a hit and two RBI. Murphy and Woolfolk drove in one run apiece while Graczyk, Klees, Ewald, and Reynolds each picked up a hit.
Brett Fulk (0-1) took the loss for Lenoir-Rhyne as he gave up two runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts in one inning pitched.
