Sunday, February 19th, 2006

Piedmont Splits Non-Conference Weekend Series At NC Wesleyan

The Piedmont College baseball team earned a two-game weekend split at North Carolina Wesleyan College this afternoon in Rocky Mount, NC. The Lions were shutout in the doubleheader's opener 7-0 before rebounding to win the nightcap 3-2 with ninth inning heroics.

In the first game, NCWC's Blake Rice tossed his first collegiate no-hitter in leading the Bishops as his performance was only third no-hitter in Wesleyan baseball history and the first since 1993. Rice dominated from the very start of game one and allowed only three baserunners in his nine innings of work, walking two and hitting one batter. He struck out 12 Lions on the day and had only three balls leave the infield.

Billy Secor took the loss for the Lions after tossing six complete innings and allowing three runs on eight hits. He also tallied five strikeouts.

The nightcap looked to be a pitcher’s dual early as NCWC’s Ben Pearson and PC’s Ian McClary each allowed only one hit through the first three innings.

The Bishops got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. PC did their damage in the top of the ninth. After a lead-off walk and Bishop error allowed the Lions to tie the game at 2-2, Justin Oates scored the game-winning run on a Cole Spedale two-out single.

Piedmont starter McClary also received a no decision after allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings of work. Matt Burgess picked up the win, while Josh Berens earned the save.

The split moves Piedmont to 3-3 overall on the season with the Lions returning to action on Saturday, February 25th with a non-conference road trip to Atlanta, GA to take on Oglethorpe University with first-pitch scheduled for 1:00.