SAU roundup: Baseball sweeps series with Kentucky Christian to end regular season

LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews Knights baseball team won all three games of its series with the Kentucky Christian Knights on Thursday and Friday to end the regular season.

St. Andrews (27-20, 13-15 Appalachian Athletic Conference) won game one 8-2 on Thursday and took Friday’s game two 10-0 in eight innings and game three 3-2 in eight frames.

Friday was senior day for St. Andrews, which honored seniors Shawn Taylor, Josiah Barhite, Chance Blum, Samuel Rosario, Brycen Seymore, Kade Poteet-Herrera, Nate Moretz and Jude Drzemiecki in between games.

In game two, St. Andrews scored six runs in the seventh and one in the first, fourth, sixth and eighth.

Poteet-Herrera hit a grand slam for St. Andrews; Caden Santucci had three hits and three RBIs; Seymore had two hits with two RBIs; Blum had a single and a double with an RBI and Drzemiecki had a single and a double.

Josh Hill earned the win on the bump, allowing four hits with four strikeouts and three walks in seven frames.

Elijah Spurlock was the losing pitcher for Kentucky Christian (17-32, 3-27 AAC).

In game three, St. Andrews led 1-0 after the second before the game was tied at 2-2 following the third; St. Andrews walked it off in the eighth with Blum’s RBI hit to bring in Garrett Wolff.

Drzemiecki, like Blum, finished with a hit and an RBI; Poteet-Herrera had an RBI and Rosario had a double.

Ryan Cleary, who came in for relief in the eighth, was awarded the win for St. Andrews, giving up no hits with a strikeout.

Kentucky Christian’s Yan Rivera had a hit and an RBI, and Jared Rosado had a double.

Alex Rivera gave up the winning run for St. Andrews with three strikeouts and three walks in 2 2/3 innings, taking the loss for Kentucky Christian.

In game one, St. Andrews took a 7-0 lead after a run in the first, four in the third and two in the fourth; Kentucky Christian scored one run in the seventh and eighth before St. Andrews added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.

Wolff was 3-for-4 with two doubles and five RBIs for St. Andrews; Drzemiecki was 5-for-5 with a double and two RBIs; Seymore had a single with an RBI and Rosario had a double.

Noah Sorrells allowed four hits with a strikeout and four walks in five scoreless innings to claim the win.

Rivera had two singles with an RBI for Kentucky Christian; Rosado had a solo home run and Cole Thomason had a single and a double.

Noah Waltz pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits to suffer the loss.

St. Andrews awaits the AAC tournament next week, where they will be the No. 8 seed; their opponent, the No. 9 seed, won’t be finalized until Saturday and will be between Johnson, Union and Columbia International.

Softball ends season with split of doubleheader against Bluefield

The St. Andrews Knights softball team closed its season with a 4-2 win and 9-5 loss against the Bluefield Rams in Virginia on Friday.

Bluefield (9-29, 3-25 Appalachian Athletic Conference) led 1-0 after a run scored in the second inning; St. Andrews (9-39, 4-24 AAC) gained the advantage with two runs in the fourth before the Rams tied it at 2-2 in the fifth. St. Andrews’ two scores in the sixth put them back ahead, though, and gave them the win.

Ava McPhillips had a double with an RBI for the Lady Knights; Valentina Jara and Maddy Taylor each had an RBI and Meghan Fritz had a double.

Fritz earned the win with a complete performance, allowing six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Bluefield’s Kenidy Harris had a single with an RBI, and Kaylee Hughes had a single and a double.

Hallie Cox took the loss.

In game two, Bluefield led 3-0 after the first, but St. Andrews closed in with two runs in the third; Bluefield responded with four runs in the fourth and two in the fifth before St. Andrews’ comeback bid was stopped at three runs in the seventh.

Harris had two doubles and a single with three RBIs for Bluefield; Hannah Hayes had a single and three RBIs; MacKenzie Franklin had a single and a double with two RBIs and Gianna Sloan-Lebron had a single and a double with an RBI.

Ali Glover allowed six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in a complete effort to earn the win.

St. Andrews’ Olivia Plybon had a single and a double with an RBI; Charlee Mullins had a single with an RBI and Tess Ruschman had a double.

Mullins suffered the loss for the Lady Knights.