LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights baseball team took two of three games at Clark Field over Friday and Saturday against Truett McConnell, taking Friday’s contest 6-3 then splitting a Saturday doubleheader by losing the first game 8-6 and taking the second game 5-4. St. Andrews is now 8-6 (4-4 in conference games) on the season while the Bears are 5-12 (2-7 against AAC opponents).

In Friday’s contest the Knights got on the board first in their half of the first inning thanks to an RBI single from Aiden Wilson to score Cesar Morillo. Wilson would then score in the bottom of the third on an RBI double from Garrett Hamby before Morillo added an RBI double himself in the home half of the fourth to score Jesse Osborne. A three-run homer from Garrett Wolff in the bottom of the seventh blew the game open and proved to be the difference in the game after the Bears got two runs in the top of the ninth (the score was 3-1 before the homer).

Noah Sorrells started the game and gave the Knights seven innings of one-run ball. Sorrells had eight strikeouts against one walk.

The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader saw St. Andrews score first with two runs in the bottom of the second, though that lead was short lived as Truett McConnell immediately responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third. They would then add three runs apiece in the sixth and seventh innings before the Knights got a run in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth.

Adrian Ojea went 2-3 from the plate with an RBI, which came on a single in the bottom of the eighth. Hamby had two RBIs, on a single in the bottom of the second.

The Knights used three different pitchers: Josh Hill, CJ Harrison and Patrick Linck. Hill started and pitched the most out of the group with 5.1 innings of work.

The second contest of Saturday’s doubleheader saw the Knights get outhit 10-5 over seven innings yet still come out with a win. The first two St. Andrews runs came in the bottom of the first on an RBI groundout from Hamby to score Morillo and a solo homer from Wilson. Kanan Treece added a two-RBI single in the home half of the third while Wilson provided the winning run in the bottom of the fifth on a sac fly to score Morillo.

Tyler Barfield pitched all seven innings for St. Andrews and got the win, striking out six batters against two walks. Hank Simonds pitched six innings for the Bears and had three strikeouts against one walk.

The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon with a trip to face Carolina, who they just beat 14-1 last week. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Softball swept in home doubleheader against Milligan

The Knights were defeated in both games of a Saturday doubleheader against the Buffaloes, dropping the first game 6-2 and the second contest 12-7. St. Andrews falls to 3-15 (0-6 in conference games) on the season with the losses while Milligan improves to 7-5 (3-3 against conference opponents) with the victories. Both games were seven-inning contests.

Milligan immediately got on the board of the first game, getting two runs in the top of the first. The game went then went scoreless for the next several innings before St. Andrews got their two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-RBI single from Cat Berger. The Buffaloes would get the game winning run in the top of the sixth and two insurance runs in their half of the seventh.

Berger was the lone Knight to have multiple hits in the game, going 2-2 from the plate with the aforementioned two RBIs. Meghan Fritz had four strikeouts on the mound and went 1-3 from the plate with a run scored.

Milligan again got off to a fast start offensively in the second game, scoring four runs in the top of the first while sending eight batters to the plate. The Buffaloes would add two runs apiece in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings while racking up 13 hits in the contest.

St. Andrews scored two runs in their half of the first, three in the bottom of the second and one apiece in the sixth and seventh innings. The Knights had 14 hits in the game.

Tess Ruschman went 3-4 from the plate with an RBI on a double in the bottom of the first and also had a run scored. Olivia Plybon went 2-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Sarah Sidell and Jaylin Joss split the pitching duties for St. Andrews. Sidell pitched five innings while Joss pitched two.

St. Andrews will be back in action with a road doubleheader on Thursday afternoon against Pikeville. The games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Rhodes finishes sixth at women’s wrestling conference championship

The Knights competed in the Mid-South Conference championships on Friday and Saturday in Bolling Green, Kentucky. St. Andrews finished in 11th place out of 12 teams with 6.5 points scored. Life University won the competition with 221.5 points, 62.5 ahead of second placed University of the Cumberlands.

Laney Rhodes (160) finished in sixth of her weight class and scored four of the Knights’ 6.5 points. Jillian Ellis (117) scored the other 2.5 points. St. Andrews won seven matches, six from bye and one by technical fall.

The National Tournament is scheduled for Friday, March 14 in Kansas. For the men, the National Tournament will start on Thursday and be a three-day event, also in Kansas.

Beach volleyball splits with Warner and New College of Florida

The Knights battled Warner University and the New College of Florida in Cleveland, Georgia on Friday. St. Andrews fell to Warner 5-0 and beat the New College of Florida 3-2. The Knights’ season record is now 8-4 (2-0 in conference games).

In the game against the New College of Florida, Cayleigh Pellitier and Kyra Mckinney won their matchup against Amanda Pizzol and Cassidy Casey in two games by scores of 21-18 and 21-13. Skyler Clayton and Bella DiDonna took down Mariana Saba and Luisa Hoffman in two games by a score of 21-18 twice. Kaley Barger and Hayden Larrimore were victorious against Kaitlynn Dean and Camryn Deem in two games by scores of 21-16 and 21-17.

Against Warner, Clayton and DiDonna came the closest to winning a matchup. They pushed Lydia Coggins and Amanda Jimenez to three games, taking the first one 21-14 but losing the next two by scores of 21-15 and 15-4.

St. Andrews will head to Ave Maria, Florida for three games over March 14 and 15. They will start with Friday games against Ave Maria University and St. Thomas University at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.

Men’s volleyball swept by three teams

The Knights headed south to Florida for three games over Saturday and Sunday. St. Andrews was swept by all three teams they played against: Webber International, St. Thomas and Warner. The team’s season record is now 0-6 (0-6 in conference games) with the losses.

Against Webber International, the scores of the sets were 25-12, 25-14 and 25-16. Khushpreet Sandhu led the team in kills with 12 while Nicholas Scorzo and Javier Alejandro Palacio Novoa had five digs apiece to share the team lead.

Against St. Thomas, the scores of the sets were 25-21, 25-15 and 25-19. Joseph Mayers had a team high nine kills and also had two digs and two blocks. Scorzo and Kaleb Middleton had four digs apiece to lead the team.

In the contest against Warner, the scores of the sets were 25-19, 25-16 and 25-21. Sandhu led the team in kills with 10 while Scorzo led the team in digs with eight.

The Knights will head to Roanoke College on Friday night. The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.