The Covenant baseball team scored three first inning runs, but the Scots could not hold back No. 24 LaGrange as the host Panthers rallied for a 14-3 victory in the USA South series opener on Friday night at Cleaveland Field.
Covenant drops to 10-10 on the year and 4-5 in league play. LaGrange, ranked 24th in the D3baseball.com Top 25, goes to 16-6 overall and 9-3 in the USA South.
The first inning looked good for the Scots. After the first two batters were retired to start the game, the next four Scots reached base and produced three runs.
Alex Gonzalez and CJ Edmond had back-to-back singles before a Lewis Saunders double drove in both to give the Scots a 2-0 lead. John Mitchell followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
LaGrange responded with two runs, both coming on a Rhett Hollon two-run single, in the home half of the first. The Panthers then flexed their muscle in the second by scoring six times to open up an 8-3 lead. Three more runs in the third inning broke open the contest as LaGrange grabbed an 11-3 lead.
Edmond, Mitchell, and Brooks DuBose had two hits apiece for the Scots. Covenant collected nine hits on the night.
Joe Ruth went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored to lead LaGrange. The Panthers tallied 18 hits in the game, led by McKinley Erves' three-hit game.
Matt Reitz (2-3) made the start on the mound for Covenant and picked up the loss. Harrison Richards made his debut on the mound in a relief appearance and tossed two innings and struck out four.
JR Robinson got the win for LaGrange. Robinson (3-2) went six innings and allowed three runs on six hits, while striking out 11. Coston Anderson and Austin Brown combined to throw three scoreless innings to secure the win for LaGrange.
The two teams will conclude the conference series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.