WINCHESTER, Ky. --- Asbury baseball (5-4, 0-0 CCS) claimed the series victory on Saturday when they split a doubleheader to Manchester (1-2, 0-0 HCAC) dropping the first game 9-6 and capturing the second game 11-1 in Winchester, Ky. on the campus of George Rogers Clark High School.
Game One | MANCHESTER 9, ASBURY 6
A back-and-forth battle slipped away late as Manchester used a decisive sixth inning to pull ahead and hand Asbury a 9-6 setback.
After Manchester erased a 5-2 deficit and tied the game on a solo homer in the fifth, the visitors seized control for good with a four-run outburst in the sixth. A string of run-scoring plays capped by an RBI triple turned a 5-5 game into a 9-5 Manchester advantage.
Asbury pushed across a run in the seventh on a Bryce Hayden RBI single, but the Eagles stranded 10 runners overall and could not close the gap in the late innings.
Asbury's offense answered quickly after Manchester opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the first. Andrew Billington sparked the Eagles with a first-inning run and continued to drive the lineup from the top, finishing with three hits, two runs scored, an RBI and a double.
In the second, Asbury put together its biggest inning of the game, sending four runs across to flip a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead. Josh McNulty delivered the key blow in the frame with a single to center that brought home two runs and helped put the Eagles firmly in front.
Manchester chipped away with power in the middle innings, closing the margin to 5-4 on a two-run home run in the fourth and then tying the game on another solo shot in the fifth. That set up the pivotal sixth, when Manchester used four hits and a sacrifice to manufacture four runs. An RBI single, a sacrifice bunt that plated a run, another run-scoring single and the eventual RBI triple produced the inning's damage and shifted momentum away from the Eagles.
Game Two | ASBURY 11, MANCHESTER 1
Manchester briefly grabbed control in the top of the first when Max Horner opened the game with a double to right and came around to score on an RBI single to center by Matthew Subler. That 1-0 lead held only momentarily, as the Eagles answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning and never trailed again.
Asbury tied the game on a sacrifice fly from Cam Weaver that brought home Andrew Billington, then seized the lead for good when Avery Hare drove a two-run double to center, pushing the Eagles in front 3-1.
The Eagles broke it open in the second inning, scoring four times, highlighted by a three-run home run from Aaron Beaman that stretched the advantage to 7-1 and put Manchester on its heels.
AU continued to add on in the middle innings. In the third, Edison Burke doubled to right field to drive in Aiden Masters, making it 8-1.
Weaver struck again in the sixth with a run-scoring double to left that plated Beaman, then came around to score on a wild pitch for a 10-1 margin. Pinch hitter Ben Krza capped the scoring in the seventh with a double to left that scored Luke Conley for Asbury's 11th run.
Devin Walker provided all the stability Asbury needed on the mound. The right-hander worked five innings, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out five and walking four. Asbury's staff combined to limit Manchester to one run on six hits over seven innings, stranding 11 Spartan baserunners and working around five walks to preserve the lopsided result.
Andrew Gilliam pitched the final two innings in relief. Holding the Spartans to zero runs on zero hits and a strikeout.
"Proud of our offense. We got ahead early and kept working. Defense went to work making plays for me. Proud of everyone great team weekend, with winning the series."
Devin Walker | Junior | Finance Major | Saluda, NC
AU travels to Earlham on Tuesday, taking on the Quakers at 5 PM in Richmond, In.
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Avery Hare | 4-7, 2 RBI, R, 2B
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Devin Walker | 5 IP, ER, 5 K, W (1-1)
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Andrew Billington | 4-8, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B
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Brandon McKindley | 2 IP, 0 H, 3 K
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Andrew Gilliam | 2 IP, 0 H, K
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Hayden Fisher | 2-4 R, RBI
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Josh McNulty | 4-8, 2 R, 2 RBI,
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Aaron Beaman | 3-7, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI
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