Pirates Salvage Split With Extra Inning Heroics - Phenix City, AL

The CVCC Pirates were able to come away with a split here at Howard Lake Field on Sunday after taking an 11-7 loss in the first game of the conference double header. Pirates' starter Matt Hill cruised through the first two frames but gave up two runs in the third and four more in the fourth to give the Govs from Wallace State a 6-1 lead early. Tyler Moffitt was also roughed up, surrendering four runs of his own in the sixth. The Pirate defense didn't help the cause accounting for five of those runs on costly errors. The offense wasn't bad in the game for the Pirates, who mustered seven runs on eleven hits, but it just wasn't enough to compensate for the unearned runs. Ben Lillis scored his first home run of the year and joined the three Alexes, Montes, Duhaime, and Fuller in having multi hit affairs.

Game two saw a different ballgame at the Lake as a pitching duel decided the final game of the ACCC series. Looking for the sweep, the Gov's were able to post four runs on starter Johnny Gunter(ND 5IP, 4H, 7K) who was very sharp, allowing just four hits and striking out seven in five innings. Tristan Farrell(W 4IP, 1H, 6K) was called on to relieve Gunter in the sixth, and he proved to be just what the Pirates needed. Farrell was superb, allowing only a single hit over four innings, two of which were extras, and striking out six. Farrell would prove to be a hero at the plate as well later in the game, but he'd have to wait his turn as sophomore Wes Adkins took the stage first with a game saving two run blast that forced extra innings. Farrell's dramatics came in the bottom of the ninth inning as he drove home the winning run with two outs on a lazer beam to right center field.

The 5-4 win salvages what could have been a sweep in a series where defense cost the Pirates dearly and places the Pirates mark at 12-6 on the year and 3-3 in the ACCC.