Box Score
Photo Gallery
USA South Baseball Tournament site
BURLINGTON, N.C. — Sixth-seeded Averett University kept the tying run from scoring in the final inning to pull out a 9-8 victory over No. 2 seed Methodist University in a USA South Conference Tournament elimination game on Friday at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
Averett (25-16), which avoided elimination with two wins on Friday, advanced to play No. 5 seed Ferrum College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
In what began as an offensive showcase slowly morphed into a pitchers' showdown. Both teams traded leads early on, but Averett grabbed a 9-8 lead through five innings. Although Methodist (24-11) kept the Cougars off the scoreboard the rest of the way, Averett reliever
Brian Knowles (5-5) shut down the Monarchs over the final four innings to earn the win and keep the Cougars' postseason alive.
Averett rebounded from allowing four runs to Methodist in the Monarchs' first two at-bats by tying the score at 4-4 with a four-run second inning.
James Carter had a two-run double to right-center, and
Jimbo Newcomb and
Adam Higgins followed with RBI singles.
It foreshadowed what was to come over the next several innings. Methodist retook the lead on Xavier Mayo's single, which scored Brian Goodwin from second base. That 5-4 Monarch advantage lasted until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Cougars plated three runs with the help of a Methodist error and RBI groundouts by
Matt Mitchell and Higgins.
Methodist took advantage of three Averett errors in the top half of the fifth inning and scored three more runs to go back in front 8-7. Yet, once again, the Cougars answered right back in the bottom of the inning.
Jordan Kidd singles home Carter to knot the game, and Kidd later scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by
Eric McGuire.
Averett failed to take advantage of a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the sixth inning, but it didn't turn out to haunt them. Knowles allowed just two hits the rest of the way — a single by Trey Such in the eighth and a double by Tyler Younger in the ninth.
Knowles pitched the final 6.2 innings in relief of
Chris Moyer.
The Cougars, who defeated Greensboro College 8-5 on Friday morning, were out-hit 14-10, but got a 3-for-4 day from Carter.
Matt Quick led the Monarchs with three hits. Shawn Lovette and Younger each had a pair of hits.