WHITEVILLE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team returned home with two wins followed a three-game road series against Southeastern Community College – Whiteville over the weekend.
 
The Royals won the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 7-4 in extra innings before falling in game two after the contest was shortened to five innings due to darkness. In the series final on Sunday, Queens came away with a 14-5 win after collecting 15 hits and six stolen bases.
 
Game One: Queens 7, Southeastern – Whiteville 4 (10 inn.)
 
The Rams struck first in the series opener with two runs in the home half of the first inning. Queens quickly responded with a four-run second inning, a lead it carried until Southeastern scored on run in the sixth and another in the seventh to tie the game at 4-all.
 
Following a scoreless eighth and ninth innings from both sides, the Royals brought three runs across the plate in the top of the 10th and secured the win as freshman Adam Hartle held the Rams without a run in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Hartle (3-0) was credited with the win after pitching 3.1 innings of relief and allowing just one hit while striking out six batters. Freshman Drew Meschede, Queens' starter for the game, went 6.2 innings on the mound, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with nine strikeouts.
 
Junior Ryan Dudney was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, two runs scored, two RBI and two stolen bases, while sophomore Dominic Ford was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Junior Chase Hager turned in a 1-for-2 performance with two RBI before exiting the game early.
 
Game Two: Southeastern – Whiteville 5, Queens 3 (5 inn.)
 
Queens had just one hit in the second game on Saturday, taking advantage of two Ram fielding errors and three walks to provide offense.
 
A two-run first inning put the Royals ahead early before Southeastern took the lead with three runs its own in the bottom half of the fourth. Queens tied the game at 3-all with a run in the fifth inning as the Rams responded with a two-run bottom half to retake the lead before darkness set in and the game was called early.
 
Junior CJ Hammonds had the Royals only hit of the afternoon, finishing 1-for-2 with a stolen base and one run scored. Ford and freshman Noah Jones also scored one run apiece for Queens.
 
Junior starter Jack Bergren (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits with seven strikeouts across five innings of work.
 
Game Three: Queens 14, Southeastern – Whiteville 5
 
In the series final, the Royals offense exploded for 14 runs on 15 hits as Queens was also aggressive on the base paths with six stolen bases.
 
Queens scored early and often, leading 13-2 over the Rams through five innings of play. Southeastern scored three runs of its own in the bottom half of the sixth before the Royals' final run came across in the seventh inning as both sides went scoreless over the final two innings.
 
Junior Kollin Schrenk got his fourth start of the year for Queens and went four innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts but did not factor in the decision. Fellow junior Max Fries (1-0) got the win despite allowing four runs on four hits with two strikeouts over two innings of relief work.
 
Sophomore Bryant Baucom tossed two scoreless innings with a strikeout in his third relief appearance of the season, while junior Christian Huggins was perfect in one inning out of the bullpen, needing just 11 pitches to record the game's final three outs.
 
Freshman Anthony Orta led the offensive charge, going 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored, while Ford was 3-for-6 with a triple, three RBI, two stolen bases and a run scored.
 
Hager was 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base, followed by Jojo Castronovo who finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI of his own. Freshman Wes Boling also had two hits and two RBI for the Royals in the win.
 
Queens has the week off in conjunction with the University's Spring Break, but will return to competition on Tuesday, March 13 against Erskine College JV in Due West, S.C. for a single game at 1 p.m.