Averett Slugs Past Bishops

DANVILLE, Va. – After struggling offensively for the last several games, the Averett University baseball team was due for a break-out hitting performance. Sunday the Cougars broke out to the tune of 15 hits and 13 runs during a 13-3 USA South Conference win over North Carolina Wesleyan College at Owen-Fulton Field.

“15 hits is looking more like the team we were expecting to have this season,” Averett head coach Ed Fulton said. “I think today we had a lot of quality at bats.”

Following three scoreless innings, the Cougars (16-16, 7-8 USA South) belted the Bishops for four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth for a 9-0 advantage. Gene Yost led off the fourth inning with a double down the leftfield line, and advanced to third on a single by T.J. Bray. Kevin Bundy took one for the team and loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch, before a Kevin Wells hit into a fielder’s choice to score Yost.

Averett mounted a two-out rally at that point, as Cougar catcher Chris Carr singled to score Bray and Cassidy followed with a hit to score Wells, which moved Carr to second. Carr later advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error by the Bishops’ catcher for the 4-0 lead.

Averett wracked up six hits and five runs in the fifth to put the game away. Chris England reached on an error and moved to second on a Yost single. They both moved up a bag on a double-steal, before Eddie Guessford sacrificed to score England. Bray followed with an RBI triple to score Yost, and later scored on a single by Bundy for a 7-0 advantage. Bundy moved to third on a Wells single and later scored on a wild pitch. Wells was later driven in by a Cassidy single to conclude the fifth inning scoring.

Bundy added a two-RBI single in the sixth to advance the Bishop deficit to 11-0. After allowing three Wesleyan runs in the seventh, Kyle Hoehne sent a double down the leftfield line for two Averett RBIs and the 13-3 final margin.

Drake Shumate improved to 2-4 with the win, as he struck out six and allowed only two earned runs.

“Drake pitched with guts today,” Fulton said. “It’s tough to want to pitch inside on guys with runners on base, but he did without fear. He also pitched like he had a defense behind him and wasn’t concentrating on strikeouts. Drake was pitching to keep guys from hitting the ball hard.”

Bundy was 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Bray went 3-for-4 with one run batted in. Yost and Cassidy each added two hits to the Cougars’ offensive onslaught.

Averett return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Norfolk, VA to face Virginia Wesleyan College at 3 p.m.

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