LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. - LaGrange pounded Covenant 14-4 to gain a split of a non-conference doubleheader Saturday. The Scots (6-5) walked off with a 5-4 win in the first game to end the Panthers' four-game winning streak. 

Game 2
McKinley Erves, Trey Pearce, and Joe Ruth all drove in three runs to lead LC (5-2). Erves and Ruth each had a solo home run included in their two hits. The Panthers have hit 10 home runs in their first seven games. They hit five in the shortened 17-game 2020 season.

LC got on the scoreboard first with a two-run second inning. Jack Layrisson walked and went to third on Trey Pearce's single to right. David Smigelski drove in both runners with a double to left center for a 2-0 lead. The Panthers upped their lead to 5-0 in the third inning. Erves hit his second home run of the season and Ruth followed with his first of the season to make it 4-0. Layrisson singled to left and went to third on E.J. Churchich's double. Layrisson came home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 5-0.

Covenant came back with four runs off LC starter J.R. Robinson in the bottom of the third to make it 5-4. Ethan Fry (1-0) pitched the final two innings to pick up his first collegiate win.

The Panthers answered with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Erves doubled in the first two runs and later scored on Layrisson's sacrifce fly for an 8-4 lead.

LC broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring six runs with two outs. Ruth's bases-loaded double brought home the first two runs. Back-to-back walks to Layrisson and Churchich forced in another run. Pearce capped the inning with a bases-clearing three-run double down the right field line to make it 14-4. 

The game was scheduled for seven innings, but was called after the end of the fifth.

The Panthers finished with 11 hits, with Churchich, Erves, Pearce, and Ruth all having two. The first four batters in the Panther lineup scored 10 runs, had six hits, and had seven RBIs.

Game 1
Covenant came from behind to walkoff with the win in the first game. The Panthers led 4-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth. The Scots tied the game with a run in the bottom of the eighth off reliever Tanner Chafin. In the ninth, Jeff Norman (0-1) came in for Chafin. Alex Gonzalez greeted Norman with a home run to center field to win the the game, 5-4.

LC had gone up 2-0 in the first inning. Rhett Mixon walked to lead off the inning and went to third as Ruth reached on a one-out error. After Ruth stole second, Layrisson singled to right center to drive in Mixon and Ruth.

Covenant came back with three runs in the third inning off starter Dalton Brooks to go up 3-2. Brooks went the first five innings, allowing the three runs, walking three and striking out five.

Pearce led off the LC fourth inning with a double and moved over to third on Jared Aldridge's sacrifice bunt. He scored the tying run as Rhett Hebert grounded out to the shortstop. The Panthers retook the lead in the seventh. They put runners on the corners on back-to-back singles by Hebert and Mixon. Erve's base hit to center scored Hebert for a 4-3 lead.

The Panthers will play at Huntingdon on Wednesday, March 10. They return to Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium starting March 20 for a three-game series with Emory, beginning with a doubleheader.

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