Diamond Marlins win Wesleyan battle, 4-1

Rocky Mount, NC - Thanks to three unearned runs and impressive performances by five Marlin pitchers, Virginia Wesleyan College was able to pick up a 4-1 win over the Battling Bishop baseball squad on Tuesday at Bauer Field. VWC moves to 3-0 on the season, while NC Wesleyan drops its second straight contest and is now 7-3 overall.

The first three innings proved to be a pitcher's dual between VWC's Chris Rivera and NCWC's Ben Moore.  The Marlins' Dave Whigham relieved Rivera in the fourth, while Moore continued to toil for the Bishops.

It was Virginia Wesleyan that struck first with an unearned run in the fifth.  Brandon Hathaway delivered a two-out single to right that plated Phil Cadle, who had reached on an error.

Bishop hurler Ben Pearson relieved Moore in the sixth, and a NCWC run in the bottom of the inning closed the book on Moore and Whigham with the score tied 1-1.  The Bishops had pushed across the equalizer off of VWC's Rocco DeLauri on a two-out RBI single by Mark Wooten.

Still the pitcher of record, DeLauri was lined up for the victory when the Marlins regained the lead in the seventh.  The Bishops' fourth fielding error of the day extended the inning for Marlin slugger Matt Hudgins, and the senior catcher promptly delivered yet another two-out RBI with a double to left.

VWC's Jesse Scarborough shut down the Bishop offense in the next two frames, and Erik Nguyen came on in the ninth to earn the save for the Marlins, who had added two insurance runs in the eighth.

Cadle and Mike Marion each had two hits to pace Virginia Wesleyan, while Luke Williford led the Bishops with two hits of his own.

Pearson took the loss after allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits in three innings of work.

Return to Baseball Main