Knights take down Carolina University in home opener 16-11
Feb. 8—LAURINBURG — The Knights baseball team hosted Carolina University of the National Christian College Athletic Association Division for their home opener in Laurinburg Tuesday afternoon. An explosive inning where the Knights were able to score 10 runs helped them seal the deal on an 16-11 victory and claim their first win of the young 2023 season.
Brenden Bille (Waupon, WI) took the hill for the Knights in this one and threw a solid six innings for the Knights, allowing six runs on five hits and four walks. Bille was also able to strikeout three batters as well, while holding a potent Carolina offense in check in order to grab the win and help the Knights secure the victory.
The Knights exploded for 10 runs in the bottom of the second inning in order to completely blow the game open and establish a dominant hitting attack. Chris Le (Warner Robbins, GA) was able to lead off the inning with a double and Brycen Seymore (Marion, NC) was able to knock a single the next at bat. A Kade Poteet-Herrera (Pueblo, Colombia) double knocked in the runners on base for the Knights and officially started the rally.
Samuel Rosario (Lenoir, NC) was able to hit a sac-fly to center field to bring in the third run of the inning. Instead of settling for for just three, the Knights were able to reload the bases after a handful of walks and a Chance Blum (Dublin, GA) double was able to drive in two more runs for the Knights. With the Knights beginning to bat around the lineup, Joshua Benfield (Stanley, NC), Jude Drzemiecki (Roanoke, VA), Seymore, and Rosario were able to collect RBI knocks en route to the huge inning for the Knights.
After Greg Harris was able to smash a two-run homer to deep left center for the Carolina Bruins, the Knights would respond in the fifth inning when Benfield was able to smoke a double to left center to drive in Blum and Garrett Hamby (Granite Falls, NC).
The Bruins were able to get the bats warm in the later stages of the contest, as they put up four runs in the top of the eighth inning in order to get within two runs of the Knights. The Knights were able to respond in the bottom half of the frame when pinch hitter Dom Zinna (Staten Island, NY) was able to drive in two runs with a double down the left field line.
Hamby was able to tack on one more run in the frame and give the Knights an 16-11 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning. Joel Connors (Brandon, Ontario) entered the high scoring affair and dealt a clean inning of work with one strikeout and the St. Andrews victory.
The Knights will stay at home and prepare for a four-game weekend home stand against the West Virginia Tech Bears on Feb. 11 and 12 with contests starting at 12 and 2 p.m. each day.
