MARS HILL, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team set a school record with 23 runs in game one of Sunday's South Atlantic Conference doubleheader against Mars Hill before rallying in extra innings in game two to sweep the Lions at Henderson Field. The Royals took the first game of the day by a 23-14 score and concluded the weekend with an 11-9 win in the finale.
Game One: Queens 23, Mars Hill 14
The Royals totaled a school-record 23 runs on just 21 hits in the first game of the day as 10 different players recorded at least one hit in the victory.
After the Lions scored first in the opening inning, sophomore
Nick Melton tripled with the bases loaded in the top of the second to put Queens ahead 3-1. The Lions answered with runs in both the second and third innings to tie the score at 3-all. In total, the contest saw four total ties as Mars Hill seemed to answer each time the Royals took a lead.
Queens pulled away in the seventh inning, scoring five total runs to build a 16-11 edge. Redshirt-sophomores
Greyson Haller and
Noah Jones led off with back-to-back singles before sophomore
Nick Brassington broke the 11-11 tie with an RBI single. The Royals also got an RBI single in the inning from redshirt-junior
Dominic Ford and scored three times on wild pitches from the Mars Hill staff.
In the ninth, the Royals added seven insurance runs including RBI doubles from Jones and senior
Drake Harris as well as RBI singles from Melton and Brassington.
Offensively, Brassington finished 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and four RBI while Melton was 3-for-5 with a triple and five RBI of his own. Ford also had a three-hit game and drove in three runs.
Sophomore
Tanner Jacobson received a no decision after going four innings in his fifth start of the season. Redshirt-freshman
Adam Hartle saw an inning out of the bullpen before giving way to redshirt-senior
Christian Huggins (1-1) who got the win after allowing just one hit in one inning. Junior
Madisyn Bolin surrendered three unearned runs on just two hits with two strikeouts across three innings of relief for his first save of the year.
Game Two: Queens 11, Mars Hill 9 (Eight innings)
In the series finale, rallied from a six-run deficit in the seventh to force extra innings before a go-ahead home run from Ford gave the Royals their second series win of the year.
Redshirt-sophomore
Anthony Orta gave Queens the early lead with an RBI single in the second inning and the Royals carried the lead through to the fifth behind the arm of sophomore
Zach Kelly. Kelly tossed five innings in his first start of 2020, allowing five runs (two earned) on five hits with 10 strikeouts.
Mars Hill took the lead with two runs in the fifth before the Royals answered with two runs of their own in the top of the sixth on an RBI double from redshirt-senior
CJ Hammonds and a Brassington RBI single.
A seven-run home half of the sixth put the Lions back in front by a 9-3 count, leaving Queens with one inning to put a rally together. Haller was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh before pinch runner
Jaret Lazich scored on a one-out RBI double from Harris.
Hammonds added an RBI single to get the Royals within four of tying the game before Jones walked to load the bases. Down to two outs and an 0-2 count, Melton belted a grand slam down the left field line to tie the game at 9-9 and force an extra frame.
In the top of the eighth, Harris reached on a two-out single and Ford sent a pitch over the left field fence to give Queens an 11-9 lead. Junior Nick Charleston (2-3) got the victory on the mound after pitching two scoreless innings of relief.
Melton was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, a home run, two runs scored and four RBI, while Ford was 2-for-5 with a home run, three runs scored, two RBI, and two stolen bases. Hammonds also collected a double and two RBI in the win.
Queens continues its road trip next Tuesday, March 10 when the team travels to Aiken, S.C. for a matchup with regional power USC Aiken at 6 p.m.
