WILSON, N.C. – The King University baseball team had its season come to an end on Friday afternoon following a 21-8 loss to 15th-ranked and second-seeded North Greenville University. The Crusaders tallied six runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to a lead that they never surrendered.
THE BASICS: North Greenville 21, King 8
LOCATION: Fleming Stadium; Wilson, N.C.
RECORDS: King 14-24; North Greenville 30-11
TIME OF GAME: 3:50
KING HIGHLIGHTS
- Bennett McCann paced the Tornado with three hits as he drove in two runs and scored twice as well.
- Harrison Barger registered a pair of hits, one of those being a home run. He brought in three runs while scoring once.
- Austin Meyer also picked up two hits, going yard once as well. He drove home two runs and scored a pair.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- North Greenville started the game off strong, plating six runs in the top of the first inning.
- The Crusaders got on the board following a two-run shot to left field from Ethan Stringer.
- Just moments later, Pat Monteith circled the pillows with a three-run bomb to push the advantage to 6-0.
- Four runs in the fourth helped the Crusaders keep their scoring streak going as they jumped out to a 10-0 lead.
- The quartet of runs was sparked by John Michael Faile when he belted a deep shot to right center for the round trip from home plate.
- King's first run of the day came in the bottom of the fourth.
- Zachary Thomas singled to center field and was then brought home by a sacrifice fly from Simon Desnoyer.
- Braden White came in to pitch in the top of the fifth and retired the North Greenville side in order.
- King plated four runs, starting with a Meyer double that scored McCann, in the bottom half of inning number five.
- That was followed up by a three-run shot to left field by Barger, making the score 10-5.
- North Greenville fired back with four runs in the top half of the seventh, sparked by back-to-back solo home runs from Monteith and Jordan Holladay.
- King got one back in the bottom half of the seventh when Meyer hit his second round-tripper in as many games with a deep solo shot over the right field wall.
- Pitching struggles plagued the Tornado coming down the stretch as six different Crusaders were walked in the top of the ninth.
- Amidst the issued walks, Cory Bivins smashed a grand slam to left field for the highlight of the contest.
- The Crusaders added a pair of runs on walks to push their advantage to 21-6, their largest lead of the day.
- King ended the day with a two-run bomb from McCann before ultimately falling in the season finale 21-8.
FOR THE FOES
- Faile led the Crusaders with five hits while driving in four runs. He also scored two runs himself.
- Stringer posted a trifecta after recording three hits, bringing home three runs and scoring three runs as well.
- Monteith and Bivins each tallied four runs batted in. Monteith did it on a pair of hits while Bivins did it with one, a grand slam in the ninth.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Zach Taglieri (7-1) 6.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
Losing Pitcher: Trevor Beards (3-4) 0.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO
