by Gary Stepp
The Alice Lloyd Eagles baseball team traveled to Wilmore over the weekend to face conference foe Asbury University. The Eagles earned a split in the two games played as the final two were postponed due to rain. Below are recaps of each contest.
April 4
Game 1
ALC-5; Asbury U-10
The hosts jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and played even from there to earn Game 1. Trailing 8-1 entering the fifth inning, the Eagles rallied with 4 runs to get within three at 8-5. Asbury responded with 2 runs of their own to ice the win. 4 errors proved costly for the visitors
The AU bats outhit their counterparts 13-7. For ALC, first baseman Jake Bales was the hitting star as he went 2-3 with a home run and a double on the day; he also added 4 RBI’s.
Right fielder Kevin Smith added 2 hits and 1 RBI to the cause.
Austin Johnson was the starting pitcher, giving up 8 hits while striking out 2 batters in suffering the loss.
Game 2
ALC-11; Brescia U-10
Jake Bales celebrates after hitting one of his two home runs.
Alice Lloyd bounced back to pull out the big win in the second game slugfest.
Trailing 3-1, the Eagles offense exploded for 4 runs in the third and 5 more in the fifth. With solid relief pitching provided from Aaron Boling who limited Asbury to just one run during the middle innings, ALC roared ahead 10-4.
The hosts retaliated by roaring back to tie the score at 10-10 in the bottom half of the sixth. In their last at bat, the visiting Eagles squeezed a run across the plate to regain the lead at 11-10. Enter pitcher Jake Woolwine, who earned the save and permited Alice Lloyd to earn a split.
The hosts outhit ALC 15-13, but Jake Bales came up big once more as he blasted his second homerun in as many games while driving in 2 runs. Trae Minton swung a big bat by virtue of his 3 hits and 1 RBI, while Judd Hammons, Patrick Barnett, and Jordan Haynes each provided 2 hits.