CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team (6-6) opened their five-game homestand victorious defeating the Erskine College Flying Fleet (8-5, 1-2 CC), 11-6, at Tuckaseegee Dream Fields on an overcast Wednesday afternoon. With the win the Royals sweep the home-and-home series with the Flying Fleet, as the Royals plated double-digit runs for the third time this season.
Â
Six Royals tallied a base hit on the day and three Royals,
Carter Foster,
Riley Cheek and
Nick Brassington mailed in multi-hit days for the Royals. Foster would hit his second home run of the year, as three Royals,
Nick Brassington,
Riley Cheek and
Nick Alderfer hit doubles on the day. With a single in the fourth inning,
Nick Melton extended his hitting streak to ten games.
Â
After allowing two runs in the top of the first inning, the Royals would quickly answer with one of their own in the bottom frame.
Carter Foster would score on a wild pitch, after getting on with an infield single, advancing to second on a throwing error and then stealing third. The Royals would strand a Fleet runner at second after giving up a double in the top half of the second inning.
Mason Pickard would score on another wild pitch in the second inning, to knot the game at two, before a
Nick Melton walk and a
Carter Foster two-run homerun over the left-field wall gave the Royals a 4-2 lead heading into the third inning.
Â
After giving up two runs in the first inning, pitcher
Garrett Crisp would put up three straight scoreless innings. He would hand it over to the bullpen in the fifth, as he finished the day with two runs allowed, one earned, on five hits, four strikeouts and a walk. After a scoreless third inning for the Royals, they would score three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to add to their lead.
Â
After
Alex Sexton and
Nick Alderfer led off the inning with a walk and a double to put runners on second and third with no outs,
Nick Melton singled to left field to score Sexton. After Melton swiped second,
Riley Cheek singled to center field to score Alderfer, as Melton advanced to third. A sacrifice fly by
Garrett Evans would score Melton, as the Royals led the Fleet 7-2 at the end of four.
Â
After the visitors loaded the bases twice in the fifth, the Royals escaped with just one run allowed as a fly out to shortstop ended the frame. After a few throwing errors by the Royals infield, the Flying Fleet added two runs in the sixth to cut the Royals lead to 7-5. However, Queens would quickly respond with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame.
Â
A
Garrett Evans single scored both
Riley Cheek and
Nick Alderfer. In the following at bat,
Nick Brassington doubled Evans home to extend the Royals lead to 10-5 heading into the seventh. Both the Royals and the Fleet would go scoreless in the seventh. The Royals would get the Flying Fleet out in the eighth, after allowing a walk.
Â
The Royals would tack on a run in the eighth after
Riley Cheek doubled to right field to score
Nick Melton after his leadoff walk. The Flying Fleet would belt a home run over the left field fence, but the Royals would otherwise put them down in order to close out the game 11-6.
Â
The Royals will return to the diamond this weekend beginning on Friday with a three-game series against Tusculum University at Tuckaseegee Dream Fields. Queens will open conference play against the Pioneers at 2:00 p.m. The weekend series will conclude on Saturday, with a double-header with the first pitches slated to start at 12pm and 3pm respectively.
Be sure to follow the Royals baseball program on
Instagram and
Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest news and updates. Fans can also follow Queens Athletics on social media @QueensAthletics to get updates on all things Royals Athletics.
Â