Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University baseball team opened their home schedule on a cloudy day on the King University campus, but the Tornado came away with a pair of victories over the University of Charleston. The Tornado got a pair of saves from Nathan Helke as King held on to take game one 9-8 before pulling away late in game two for the 8-3 victory.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 9, Charleston 8; King 8, Charleston 3
LOCATION: King Baseball Field; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 4-5; Charleston 0-2
SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
- Helke earned his first two saves of the season, tossing a combined three innings, allowing only one unearned run. He tallied two strikeouts in each contest.
- Offensively, Ryan Whitt, Ryan Sattz and Tyler Bailey had big days. Whitt collected three total hits, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and drove in one in the nightcap.
- Sattz and Bailey both hit home runs in game one with Bailey ripping a grand slam in the second inning to give King the lead. Bailey went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and five runs batted in.
- Including the home run, Sattz went 3-for-6, including 2-for-3 in game one with two runs scored and two runs batted in.
GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
- Charleston grabbed the lead in the second inning when Zach Gunter ripped a home run to start the frame.
- The Tornado answered in the bottom of the inning however. Bailey took a 2-0 pitch over the Blue Emu sign in left field to put the Tornado on top.
- The Golden Eagle rallied again in the fifth, scoring a pair of runs and loading the bases with one out. However, Nicolas Keister ended the rally when he caught a flyball in center field and threw out a runner that was trying to advance to third. Austin Dayton laid the tag on before the tying run scored to keep the Tornado in the lead.
- In the bottom of the inning King plated four runs one on Preston Douglas sacrifice fly and another on a Whitt double. Sattz gave King an 8-3 lead when he laced the first pitch he saw over the left field fence.
- Charleston answered, however, scoring four runs in the sixth before Helke entered the contest and induced a double play with the bases loaded to end the inning.
- Bailey gave King a 9-7 lead with a single in the sixth that scored Anthony Hunt.
- That run proved to be important as the Golden Eagles plated a run in the top of the seventh, but Helke got a groundout to end the game, giving King the win.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Gus Gill (2-1) 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO
Save: Helke (1) 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO
Losing Pitcher: Tyler Shreve (0-1) 4.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
- Josh Stephens drew a walk to start the King half of the first and stole second before he scored on a Douglas sacrifice fly, giving King the early 1-0 lead.
- However, the Golden Eagles answered with one run on three hits in the top of the second. Tayler Itnyre evened the tally when he drove in Gunter with a sacrifice fly.
- Stephens again sparked the King offense in the third with a leadoff single. Following a Mark Hencken walk, Douglas drove them both in with a double. Douglas later scored on a Whitt double, giving King a 4-1 lead after three.
- After Charleston cut their deficit to 4-3 in the top of the sixth, King put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the frame. Again it was Stephens starting the rally with a leadoff single. Sattz ripped a two-run double that was followed by back-to-back RBI doubles from Dayton and Hunt to give King an 8-3 lead.
- Helke had to work around a two-out single in the seventh, but he got the final out to give King the sweep.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Matt Jackson (1-0) 5.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO
Save: Helke (2) 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Losing Pitcher: David Webb (0-1) 2.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
FOR THE FOES
- Itnyer went 3-for-3 in game one for the Golden Eagles, scoring once and driving in one.
- Steven Davis and Justin Mixon recorded two hits apiece in the opening game.
- In the nightcap, Gunter recorded three hits and Jeremy Tejada registered two hits.
UP NEXT
- The same two teams are scheduled to square off again on Sunday in a doubleheader. First pitch from the King baseball schedule is slated for 10:00 a.m.
