Ryan Gosney tossed seven strong innings, Grant Kierpa shut the door out of the bullpen and the Covenant baseball team used some timely hitting to defeat visiting Hampden-Sydney 4-1 on Monday afternoon.
The non-conference victory moves the Scots' overall record to 9-8, while Hampden-Sydney drops to 9-6. It was the first meeting all-time between the programs.
Gosney (2-1) was excellent in his start as he picked up a second consecutive win. The freshman right-hander scattered five hits and allowed one run while striking out four in seven innings of work.
Kierpa, making his first appearance of the year, threw two scoreless frames to pick up his first save of the year.
Covenant scored single runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Alex Kerr produced an RBI ground out in the first that plated Luke Harvey. In the second, Stephen Kegley also had an RBI ground out that scored Perry Rigby before the visiting Tigers made the third out.
Gosney had to limit the damage in the third inning as Hampden-Sydney got on the board. Reggie Johnson singled in a run with nobody out, but Gosney was able to work out of a jam later in the frame to keep the lead at 2-1.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth when Covenant added two more runs. Trenton Nobles laced a two-out single to left field that plated Harvey and Rigby followed with a single to right-center field that brought in Nobles for a 4-1 edge.
Those were all the runs the Covenant pitching staff needed. Gosney had worked around a hit batsmen to record a scoreless seventh inning before Kierpa came on in the eighth. Kierpa had a perfect eighth and then got around two hits in the ninth to record the save.
Caleb Bloye and Z Arima had two hits apiece for the Scots. Harvey went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while Nobles was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Hampden-Sydney starter Eric O'Brien (0-2) went five innings allowing two runs on five hits, but is credited with the loss. Johnson had two hits and an RBI in five at-bats to lead the Tigers.