Ferrum advances to championship game

DANVILLE, Va. - The Ferrum Panthers will have an opportunity to earn their first USA South Conference Championship Sunday, as they defeated Methodist College 2-1 Saturday at Dan Daniel Park.

Methodist took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the second inning. With two away in the inning, Matt Mergo singled to center field. He was later brought home on a double by Matt Hunt.

Ferrum, quickly answered in the top of the third with a pair of runs on one hit and two Monarch miscues. Jesse Fuller led off the inning by reaching on an error. He was sacrificed to second and scored on a double by Danville native Brett Thomas. Thomas scored the game-winning run on the second error of the inning for Methodist.

Jesse Bowles went the distance in his fourth win of the season. He fanned three in the contest. His counterpart, Eric Autry also gave a solid outing with five strikeouts and no earned runs in a complete game effort.

Seven different Monarchs had one hit each for the seven hit tally. Thomas led the Panthers with a 2-for-3 batting effort, while five other Panthers added one hit each.

The Monarchs return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Greensboro and N.C. Wesleyan game. The winner of that game will face Ferrum in the tournament championship at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday. (Box)