LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University baseball team clinched a huge AAC series win Sunday over in-state rival Montreat College. St. Andrews rallied from a four-run deficit to stun the Cavs 9-8 to pick up its 20th overall win. The Knights baseball program now has five straight 20-win seasons, all in the NAIA era.

Game 3: SAU 9, Montreat 8 (9 innings)

The bottom of the ninth saw St. Andrews trailing Montreat 8-4 before the Knights put together a thrilling rally. St. Andrews sent nine batters to the plate with senior catcher Matt Polak driving in the winning run on an RBI double to center field.

Senior Tiger Miller got the inning started for the Knights with a one-out single before advancing to second on a passed ball. A walk to freshman Lee Poteat put runners in scoring position for the Knights. An RBI single from senior Terrence Jackson cut Montreat’s lead to three, 8-5. An RBI pop fly to right by senior Justin Williams scored another run for the Knights before a walk put junior Ryne Dickens on base. With one out, freshman J.R. Polack hit a sacrifice fly to cut Montreat’s lead to one, 8-7. Senior Trey Byrd tied the game with an RBI single before M. Polack drove in the winning run with his double to center.

Sophomore starter Holden Drake threw four innings allowing three runs off seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Junior reliever Zach Saylor threw three innings allowing just one run. Junior Austin Sisley (2-2) picked up the win as he got the final two outs in the top of the ninth.

Game 2: SAU 9, Montreat 8 (7 innings)

The Knights other victory over the series was another late-game rally. St. Andrews was down 8-3 heading to the fifth inning before scoring six runs to win the game in seven innings.

The Knights used three pitchers in the seventh to close out the game with sophomore reliever Michael Wright picking an out before Sisley got the save with the final two outs.

St. Andrews outhit the Cavs 14-12. Eight different players recorded hits for the Knights while five had multi-hit games led by a 3-for-3 game by Tiger Miller.

Saylor (1-2) picked up the win throwing two scoreless innings in relief of Zach Mathes.

Game 1: Montreat 7, SAU 0

Montreat used the arm of Braeden Daniels to dominate St. Andrews in game one on Saturday rolling to the 7-0 win behind seven shutout innings of four-hit baseball.

Senior catcher Hunter Hackney led the Knights with two hits and a double. Junior starter Trevor Maly went five innings allowing seven runs off nine with five walks and six strikeouts to fall to 2-7.

St. Andrews improves to 20-24 overall and 6-12 in the conference moving them into a tie with 8th place Truett-McConnell. Montreat falls to 11-25 overall and 2-16 in the AAC.

The Knights remain home to host Truett McConnell (Ga.) on Thursday at 3 p.m. before playing Truett in a doubleheader on Good Friday at 12 p.m.

Lady Knights softball splits with Bryan

DAYTON, Tenn. — The St. Andrews University softball team split its conference doubleheader with Bryan College (Tenn.) on Saturday winning 5-3 in game one before falling 2-1 in game two.

Game One: SAU 5, Bryan 3

Senior starter Kori Ballard (7-9) gave up two runs over four innings, before the Lady Knights offense came alive scoring three runs in the sixth. The rally was led by on an RBI single from freshman Ashlyn Dial that scored junior Sam Lowder, who had doubled, followed by a Brennan Broadaway RBI double and a sacrifice fly by Symphony Arguedas.

St. Andrews took the lead scoring two go-ahead runs in the seventh on an error by the Bryan with the bases loaded. Scoring the winning runs were Lowder and sophomore Reina Mondragon. Sophomore reliever Nancy Amos closed out the game with a scoreless frame to pick up her second save.

Game Two: Bryan 2, SAU 1

Brennan Broadaway started game two for the Lady Knights, and threw four innings allowing two runs off four hits with three walks and one strikeout to pick up the 5-9 loss.

Brown came tossed the final two innings allowing zero runs off one hit with two strikeouts. Ballard led the offense with a two-hit game while Broadway drove in Dial, who had singled with a RBI double in the first inning.

The Lady Knights move to 13-27 overall and 4-12 in the AAC while Bryan improves to 16-18 and 10-4 in conference.

Softball hosts conference foe Bluefield College (Va.) today in a 2 p.m. in double-header action.

Lacrosse falls to Cumberlands 15-8

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — The St. Andrews University men’s lacrosse team dropped their fourth straight conference game 15-8 on the road to AAC foe, University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) on Thursday.

Cumberlands got out to an 8-3 advantage at halftime by out shooting the Knights 25-9. St. Andrews did manage to outscore the Patriots 2-1 in the third quarter on goals by senior Nick Foster and freshman Damian Anderson to trim Cumberlands’s lead down to 9-5.

Down by four was as close as the Knights got to the Patriots as Cumberlands continued its offensive pressure scoring six goals in the final quarter for the win.

Senior captain Vinny D’Abbraccio led the Knights with three goals while Foster and Anderson had two goals apiece. Junior Jason Lattof added a goal with three ground balls.

Sophomore face-off specialist Sebastian Calmes managed to win 9-of-20 face-offs along with a team high five ground balls and an assist. Senior defender Korey Sampson led with two caused turnovers along with four ground balls.

Senior goalie Nick Levar also made 15 saves while allowing 15 goals in the defeat.

St. Andrews falls to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference while Cumberlands improves to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the AAC.

The Knights go on the road to finish the regular season against Reinhardt University (Ga.) on Friday at 7 p.m.

SAU Athletics The Knights baseball team clinched a huge AAC series win over in-state rival Montreat College 9-8 to pick up its 20th program win this season.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Baseball-1.jpgSAU Athletics The Knights baseball team clinched a huge AAC series win over in-state rival Montreat College 9-8 to pick up its 20th program win this season.

By Troy Baranik

SAU Sports Information Director