BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University baseball team dropped their Conference Carolinas series final with Erskine College on Saturday afternoon. The Tornado held the lead early, but the Flying Fleet came back with a big sixth inning to take the contest 12-6.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Erskine 12, King 6
LOCATION: King Baseball Field; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 14-24, 7-15 Conference Carolinas; Erskine 25-18, 13-9 Conference Carolinas
TIME OF GAME: 3:01

KING HIGHLIGHTS

• Kevin Barbato ripped two home runs and a double, going 4-for-5 on the day with four runs batted in.
• Austin Meyer and Tony Valdes posted two hits apiece on the day with Valdes scoring a pair of runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Meyer started the first with a single and later scored on a Valdes single to get King on the board.
• Barbato made It a 3-0 lead when he crushed a two-run home run.
• Trader Flora started the second inning with a double and later scored on a groundout, giving King a 4-0 lead after two innings.
• Erskine tallied singles runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, cutting their deficit to 4-3.
• The Flying Fleet grabbed the lead in the sixth inning with then scored seven runs on three hits. A pair of bases loaded walks and a single from Drew Yniesta plated runs as Erskine took a 10-4 lead.
• Barbato got the Tornado on the board again in the seventh when he ripped another two-run home run, this one to center field.
• However, Erskine scored a pair of runs in the eighth, extending their lead to 12-6 as they took the win by that score.

FOR THE FOES

• Kyle Heiss and Trevor Lesane led Erskine with three hits and two runs scored each. Heiss also drove in two runs.

OF RECORD

Winning Pitcher: Trey Watts (2-1) 6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
Losing Pitcher: Ashton King (1-6) 1.1 IP, 4 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO

UP NEXT

• King travels to Lincoln Memorial University on Tuesday. First pitch from Harrogate, Tenn. is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
• Erskine travels to Anderson University on Wednesday evening.