DEMOREST, Ga.--- The Asbury baseball team (4-14, 0-7 CCS) had nine hits on Friday night's Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) series opener against Piedmont University (15-8, 2-2 CCS), but fell to the Lions in Demorest, Ga., 12-6.
AU junior right-hander
Cayden Devine held Piedmont scoreless for the first three innings, giving up only one hit. The Lions used a five-run fourth inning on three hits and three walks to take a 5-1 lead.
The Eagles had scored first in the third on a
Josh McNulty double that scored Aaron Beman. McNulty, a junior sport management major had three hits and three RBIs to lead Asbury, taking his team-high batting average to .346 and RBI count to 12 on the season.
Asbury added two runs in the fifth on two hits from
Austin Akridge and McNulty, responding to Piedmont's five-spot in the bottom of the fourth, 5-3. The Lions answered again with two in the fifth and one more in the sixth on three hits, taking an 8-3 advantage.
AU reached six runs by two in the seventh and one in the eight, but Piedmont had three hits in the seventh to add four more runs, taking the 12-6 lead.
The Lions out-hit Asbury 11-9, and struck out AU nine times while the Eagles secured six strikeouts on the Piedmont hitters. AU allowed nine walks to Piedmont, while the Eagles earned three walks offensively.
Junior
Quinn Nobles scored two runs in the game while senior
Cam Weaver had two hits. The Eagles used six pitchers in the contest, led by
Parker Bowles going 1.2 innings with no runs and a strikeout.
"It was a great Friday night CCS atmosphere in Demorest. We weren't able to do the little things we needed to take the win. Our offense was solid, and we want to build on that."
Manny Cervantes | Asbury Baseball Head Coach
Asbury and Piedmont will play games two and three of the series on Saturday, starting at 1 pm.
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Josh McNulty | 3-5, 3 RBI, 2B, SB
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Cam Weaver | 2-5, R
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Quinn Nobles | 2 R, 2 SB, BB
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Parker Bowles | 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, K
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