DURHAM, N.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team dropped a Tuesday night road clash against North Carolina Central at the Durham Athletic Park despite a ninth-inning rally that fell short, 4-2.
PC falls to 16-31-1 while NC Central improves to 17-29-1. The Blue Hose next head to Orlando, Fla., for a three-game series at UCF that begins on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
NC Central scored two runs in the opening inning and added two more in the eighth. PC rallied in the ninth by scoring a run and loading the bases but the Eagles held on for the win.
Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) went 2-for-4 and drove in both runs. Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) also posted a pair of hits. Freshman starter Hayden Deal (Newton, N.C.) took the loss to move to 0-3 while NC Central's Grant Cain went eight innings with five hits and two runs (one earned) to improve to 1-0. Andrew Vernon earned his sixth save of the season.
The Eagles struck quickly with two runs in the first. Zack Lee opened the game with a hit-by-pitch and a walk put two on. A Tyson Simpson single scored lee and a Christian Triplett single later in the frame scored another for a 2-0 home lead.
PC took one back in the second, using a leadoff error to place Brandon Paul (Augusta, Ga.) at first. Nate Chong (Duluth, Ga.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Paul to second for Midkiff, who singled through the left side to score Paul and cut NC Central's lead in half.
NC Central scored a pair of runs in the eighth on an Eric Kimber double, putting PC in a 4-1 hole heading into the final frame. Paul drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and Chong ripped a double down the left field line to put runners at the corners. A Midkiff single scored Paul and an eventual Glen Casaceli (Jupiter, Fla.) hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. Two pop flies, however, ended the game as NC Central escaped with the 4-2 victory.
Billy Motroni (Goose Creek S.C.) pitched 1.1 innings of relief and Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.) threw an inning as well. Each allowed one run.
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Presbyterian College 000 100 001 - 2 7 0 (16-31-1)
N.C. Central........ 200 000 02X - 4 5 3 (17-29-1)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - DEAL, Hayden; MOTRONI, Billy(6); WORTKOETTER, Ethan(8) and
LONG, Derek. N.C. Central - CAIN,G.; VERNON,A.(9) and DEY,J..
Win-CAIN,G.(1-0) Save-VERNON,A.(6) Loss-DEAL, Hayden(0-3) T-2:35 A-140
Weather: 80s Sunny
MOTRONI, B. faced 1 batter in the 8th.
CAIN,G. faced 1 batter in the 9th.
