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Yost Mows Past Chowan

DANVILLE, Va. - Gene Yost struck out 16 batters Wednesday, as he led the Averett University baseball team to a 5-2 win over Chowan College in the USA South Conference Tournament. He allowed only one earned run and one walk in the complete game performance in front of an attendance of 175 under the lights at Dan Daniel Park.

Yost fanned at least one Brave (18-20) in all nine innings; he struck out two batters in six of nine frames, while also striking out the side in the third. Meanwhile, Averett (21-19) scored two runs in the bottom of the first for an early 2-0 lead. Vondell Johnson singled to left field to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jason Inge followed with a double to left that scored Johnson for the first run of the contest. Yost helped his own cause on the next at bat with a single that scored Inge.

The Cougars added two more runs in the fifth and increased their lead to 4-0. T.J. Bray singled to begin the frame, while Johnson followed with a walk and Inge loaded the bases after his sacrifice bunt was misplayed. Yost and Eddie Guessford were both hit by pitches with the bases full for two more Averett runs on the subsequent Averett at bats.

Averett added a run in the sixth and Chowan scored one run in each of the final two innings for the 5-2 final margin. The Cougars accounted for nine hits, led by two hits each from Yost, Inge, Kevin Wells, and T.J. Bray. Yost had two RBIs to help support his impressive performance from the hill. He improved to 6-4 on the year after earning the victory, despite showing some fatigue during the final innings. Late in the game, Yost's ability to locate pitches allowed him to pitch out of jams and keep the Braves from threatening.

"Gene has two styles on the mound," Averett head coach Ed Fulton said. "He can be a power guy and Gene can be a finesse guy. We went with a few more sliders, a few more splits late, and started to throw the fastball off the plate a bit more. He still had good stuff. He didn't have the velocity that he had over the first seven innings, but he still had good stuff."

Chowan had four of their 10 hits over the last two innings of the contest. Scott Olsson went 4-for-4 to lead Chowan. Patrick Swift and Kenny Bragg each added two hits. Nick Anders fell to 3-4 as the game's losing pitcher.

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