Batts blasts two homers, NCWC downs Capital 6-2

Rocky Mount, NC - Sophomore catcher Justin Batts blasted his first two homeruns of the season on Friday afternoon, leading his Bishop baseball squad of North Carolina Wesleyan to a 7-3 victory over visiting Capital University at Bauer Field.  Batts was 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs.  Wesleyan improves to 11-3 on the season, while the Crusaders drop to 0-2 overall.

Batts gave the Bishops an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when he belted a Mike Graffin pitch over the pine trees in left.  After a Justin Stegman RBI-single and wild pitch allowed the Crusaders to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth, the Bishops responded with a five-spot in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by Batts’ two-run dinger to left-center.

The Crusaders managed one run off of Bishop reliever Shaun Moore in the eighth when Stegman collected an RBI-sac fly to right field. NCWC’s Luke Williford, however, answered with an RBI-double in the bottom of the inning for the 7-3 final.

Bishop starter Jonathan Lucas moved to 3-0 on the season after tossing five solid innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, while striking out two and walking none.

Graffin took the loss for Capital and is now 0-1 on the season.  The junior hurler went 3.1 innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on three hits. CU freshman Jon Wing threw the final 4.2 frames and allowed two runs (one earned) run on four hits.

Marc St. John, Mike St. John, and Nick Snider each had two hits for the Crusaders, who ripped 12 hits as a team.  Like Batts, sophomore Luke Williford had a good day at the plate for Wesleyan, going 3-for-5 with an RBI.

The Bishops return to USA South play this weekend when they travel to rival Methodist for a two-game set on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday’s game is slated for 1:00 p.m. in Fayetteville.

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