HOOVER, AL. --- Asbury baseball traveled to Hoover, AL to kick off their 2022 season against Thomas University on Friday afternoon. Thomas came into the contest playing well (3-1) and meeting up with Asbury for the very first time. 

Senior Walker Paris took the hill on opening day for AU coming off a record breaking 2021 campaign for Asbury. Paris would go 4 innings for AU leaving the contest with Thomas holding the lead 5-1 over Asbury. Riley Fisher took the ball for Thomas and put together a solid start. Fisher went 5.1 innings only giving up 1 earned run, earning his second win on the season out of two starts. 

Asbury collected the first run in the contest in the bottom of the 1st off an RBI single by Kaiden Zacharias. The game took a swing in the top of the 3rd when Thomas loaded the bases with 0 outs, and their leadoff man Turner Maddox cleared the bases with a double down the left field line. 

Thomas continued to extend their lead to 6-2, but Asbury would come charging back with a 3 run bottom of the 7th making the score 6-5. This rally for AU was powered by a 2 RBI double from freshman Josh Head, and a 1 RBI double from Jacob Smith. Thomas impressively responded in the top of the 8th, scoring 3 runs of their own extending the lead back to 9-5. 

This would be enough to hold off the Eagles in their first game of the year as they would fall to Thomas 9-5. AU will look to bounce back on Saturday as they will face Thomas in a double-header to finish off the series. 
 

* Kaiden Zacharias was 2-4 with a run scored, 1 RBI, and a walk

* Kaden Dugle recorded 2 hits for AU and scored a run in his first game of the season

* Josh Head in his first career at-bat for Asbury hit a huge double that scored 2 runs 

* Jacob Smith in his first at-bat of the season recorded a pinch-hit double to score a run that made the game 6-5

* Holten Handel came out of the bullpen for AU and settled the game down, providing 3 innings only allowing 1 run

* Both teams recorded 12 hits in this offensive powered game

* Riley Fisher went 5.1 innings for Thomas only allowing 1 earned run

* Asbury left 13 Eagles on base compared to Thomas only leaving 5 on base

"I was proud of the guys even though we weren't satisfied with the final score. This group is going to become a good team once we can get outside on a consistent basis and clean up a few fundamentals on the field. It'll be a lot of fun seeing how our team and players develop through the season."

     * Head Coach Manny Cervantes

Asbury will face Thomas again on Saturday at 11 AM in a double-header looking to bounce back and take the series.