CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team secured its first win of the 2020 season on Friday afternoon, defeating Lincoln Memorial University 8-3 at the Tuckaseegee Dreams Fields in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both sides.
 
Queens tallied eight hits, including three of the extra base variety, and took advantage of six Railsplitter fielding errors in the win. Royals' starter Nick Charleson collected the win after allowing three runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work.
 
Queens scored first with a run in the second before Lincoln Memorial evened the score at 1-1 with a run of its own in the fourth. However, the Royals broke the game open in the fifth inning with senior Drake Harris doubled to left center, scoring two and putting his team ahead 3-1.
 
Two more unearned runs in the seventh inning gave the Royals a 5-1 lead before the Railsplitter outfielder Brent Richey hit a two-run home run to bring LMU within two runs of tying the game. In the eighth, Queens added insurance runs on back-to-back RBI triples by RJ Conner and Noah Jones before sophomore Zach Kelly tossed a scoreless ninth for his first career save.
 
Harris led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Conner was 1-for-2 with a triple, a run scored, and an RBI after entering the game in the sixth inning, while Jones and sophomore Nick Brassington each had an RBI in the contest.
 
Queens and Lincoln Memorial conclude the weekend series tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.