Marcell Perello (31) throws a pitch during the second game of the Knights’ doubleheader on Tuesday against Voorhees at Clark Field. Perello pitched one scoreless inning.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Eric Cantu (11) rounds first and heads for second after getting a hit. Cantu went 1-1 with the double, an RBI, two runs scored and drew two walks in game two.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Garrett Hamby (1) swings at a pitch. Hamby had three RBIs over the two games.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Weather permitting, the Knights will head on the road for a three-game series with Pikeville on Friday and Saturday.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights baseball team picked up two victories over Voorhees University on Tuesday afternoon at Clark Field, winning the first contest 10-1 and the second game 10-4. St. Andrews improves to 19-11 on the season with the two wins (three straight overall) while the Tigers fall to 13-13 with the two losses.
Heading into the afternoon, Head Coach Andy Fox wanted to use the nonconference matchups as an opportunity to get some valuable reps for various players on his team. The Knights used nine different pitchers between the two games. That is one example of how St. Andrews was able to accomplish the goal of getting reps while also staying hot as far as wins are concerned.
“A lot of different guys got at bats today, a lot of different pitchers threw today,” Fox said. “Come out and get two wins, get some guys some reps, that was the whole goal for the day and we came out on top.”
The first game saw the Knights score two runs in both the third and fourth innings as well as three in both the fifth and sixth frames. Voorhees would get their lone run in the top of the fourth inning. Both teams had four hits in the game.
Aiden Wilson got St. Andrews their first two runs of the game on a two-RBI double to drive in Adrian Ojea (hit by pitch) and Garrett Hamby (walked) before the Knights added their fourth inning tallies on a Bubba Pope RBI double and an RBI groundout from Ojea. The fifth inning saw three straight Knights batters get hit by pitches and another get walked as they were able to add three runs on zero hits in the inning. Their sixth inning runs came on a two-RBI double from Hamby and a sacrifice fly from Isaiah Martin.
Hamby, Wilson, Martin and Pope shared the team lead in RBIs with two apiece. Cesar Morillo, Hamby, Wilson and Pope had one hit each. St. Andrews drew seven walks as a team.
The Knights used four different pitchers in the game: CJ Harrison, Ryan Cleary, Tanner Carpenter and Patrick Linck. Cleary got credit for the win with his one scoreless inning of work where he allowed one hit and had one strikeout.
The second game saw the Knights get the lead in the bottom of the first with a run before Voorhees tied it with a run in their half of the third. St. Andrews then scored two in the bottom of the third, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth while the Tigers got their other three runs in the top of the seventh. The Knights outhit the Tigers 9-6.
Hamby and Josh Zambito both drew walks prior to Jack Carela getting St. Andrews their first run of the game on an RBI single that drove in Alfredo Jimenez Jr. (pinch runner for Zambito). The two runs in the third frame started with Wilson leading off the inning with a single, Zambito drawing a walk and Carela getting a single to load the bases with no outs. Eric Cantu would score Wilson on a sacrifice fly before Jimenez Jr. (pinch runner for Zambito) would steal home while Carela stole second.
The Knights would send nine batters to the plate in the fifth inning, getting four hits and two walks while scoring the three runs. They would then get their four sixth inning runs on just two hits, though they did draw two walks, steal a base and benefit from three passed balls.
Carela led St. Andrews in hits with a 3-4 day from the plate along with an RBI and a run scored. Bryson Bebber and Caden Santucci had two RBIs apiece.
The Knights used five different pitchers in the game: Blane Wagner, John Lowe, Marcell Perello, Luke Drzemiecki and Jacob Thoresen. Wagner would pick up the win with two innings of scoreless ball where he allowed just one hit and had a strikeout.
For now, St. Andrews is set to begin a three-game series at Pikeville (16-18, 10-11 in conference games) on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. If the weather doesn’t impact any of the games, the series will conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon (start times of noon and 3 p.m.).
Despite Pikeville having an inferior record to the Knights, Fox is expecting a tough road test for his team. He noted their home field advantage and razor thin margins for error in conference play as key reasons that St. Andrews will have to be ready to play on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
“Pikeville is a good team, it’s a really tough place to play, they definitely got a home field advantage for sure,” Fox said. “Any weekend in this conference is tough, it’s just like any other one, go tee it up and see what happens.”