Bryton Williams throws a pitch during the Knights’ home win over Spartanburg Methodist on Saturday afternoon. Williams had six strikeouts over his four innings of work in relief.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Will Benjamin (7) swings at a pitch.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
The Knights will be back at home on Friday afternoon when they begin a three-game set against Bluefield.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights baseball team won two of three home games (11-10, 3-6 and 7-5) over Saturday and Sunday against Spartanburg Methodist at Clark Field. The Knights now sit at 11-7 on the season while the Pioneers are 8-15. St. Andrews Head Coach Andy Fox earned his 200th career win during the series.
In the first contest on Saturday, Spartanburg Methodist jumped out to a 4-0 lead with one run apiece in the first and second innings as well as two in the top of the third. The Knights were able to shave three runs off of the deficit in the bottom of the third on RBI singles from Garrett Hamby and Aiden Wilson as well as a sac fly from Garrett Wolff.
St. Andrews then took the lead for the first time with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cesar Morillo got it started by drawing a walk, stealing second and third and scoring on the throw of the latter as Hamby stole second on the same play. Wolff added the second run on a sac fly to score Hamby.
They would add to the lead with another two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Josh Zambito started off the inning with a double before being subbed out for Jesse Osborne who came in as a pinch runner for him. Wilson then brought Osborne in on an RBI triple and scored on yet another sac fly from Wolff.
After the Pioneers scored a run in the top of the eighth inning, St. Andrews added another two runs in their half of the inning. Connor Dugan came in as a pinch hitter for Will Benjamin and got a single before scoring on an RBI triple from Morillo, who scored on an error by Spartanburg Methodist.
The top of the ninth inning would turn the game upside down as the Pioneers were able to turn a 9-5 deficit into a 10-9 lead with all of the runs coming with two outs. They registered four hits in the inning and also benefitted from an error by St. Andrews.
Thankfully the Knights were able to save the game in the bottom of the ninth after two outs were recorded. Wolff started the comeback by drawing a walk and advancing to third on a single from Caden Santucci. Adrian Ojea was then hit by a pitch to load the bases before Eric Cantu delivered the game winning single in a pinch hitter spot.
St. Andrews as a team had 11 hits in the game with Morillo and Wilson leading the way with two apiece. Wolff led the team in RBIs with three while Tyler Barfield earned the win on the mound in relief.
Despite getting the first two runs of the second game on Saturday, the Knights weren’t able to sweep the doubleheader as the Pioneers took the contest thanks to three important runs in the top of the ninth. St. Andrews got their first two runs in the first inning and the other in the seventh while Spartanburg Methodist got one run apiece in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings before getting the deciding three runs in the final frame.
The Knights had just three hits in the contest with Morillo, Hamby and Wilson registering one apiece. All three runs came thanks to errors by the Pioneers, meaning the Knights didn’t have any RBIs. Brodie Lewis was the pitcher of record for St. Andrews in relief.
Sunday’s rubber match wasted no time getting runs on the board with Spartanburg Methodist getting the first run in the top of the first thanks to a wild pitch while St. Andrews responded in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer by Zambito. The Pioneers took their first lead after getting one run apiece in the third and fourth innings.
The Knights tied the game in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI double by Hamby. Santucci got on base first with a walk and advanced to second on a groundout. Spartanburg Methodist would take the lead back with a run in the top of the sixth.
St. Andrews would then take the lead for good with a big bottom of the seventh where they scored four runs on two hits. Hamby and Zambito both had RBI singles while Kanan Treece added a sac fly. The Pioneers would add one more run in the top of the eighth but would get no closer to even after that.
Zambito led the way offensively with a 2-4 day from the plate with four RBIs. Hamby went 2-3 with two RBIs. Jonathan Foster earned the win on the mound in relief, going 3.1 innings while allowing just one run.
The Knights will return to conference play on Friday and Saturday (two games) when they host Bluefield for a three-game set at Clark Field. Friday’s contest will start at 3 p.m.
Men’s volleyball swept by Southern Virginia
The Knights fell in three sets at Knight Arena on Saturday afternoon. St. Andrews falls to 0-8 on the season with the loss while Southern Virginia improves to 17-0 with the win. The scores of the sets were 25-11, 25-13 and 25-18.
Javier Alejandro Palacio Novoa led the Knights in kills with four while Kaleb Middleton dished out a team high 10 assists. Khushpreet Sandhu had four digs to lead the team.
St. Andrews will look to rebound on Tuesday night when they travel to face Carolina University. The Knights lost the earlier season meeting to the Bruins, falling in four sets at home back on Feb. 4. Tuesday’s contest is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.