BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Birmingham-Southern baseball team wrapped up their home opening weekend on Sunday, Feb. 19 as they defeated No. 21 ranked East Texas Baptist and in-state rival Huntingdon. The Panthers scored an average of 15.5 runs in the two victories.
Game one
A high-scoring affair between two top 25 ranked programs saw the Panthers win 15-11.
Birmingham-Southern improved to 5-1 on the season as ETBU dropped to 2-4 on the year.
Davis Williams earned the first start of his collegiate career and kept ETBU in check for most of his start. The sophomore pitched 4.2 innings allowing just four hits and striking out four.
Charlie Horne (1-0) earned the win after going 1.1 innings allowing just two hits over eight batters faced.
Hansen McCown earned the save going three innings out of the bullpen while striking out four.
BSC go out to an early lead scoring three-plus runs in the first three innings of play. After going down 2-0 in the top of the first BSC responded with 12 unanswered runs to tak a 12-2 lead in the bottom of the third. That would prove to be enough in the game as BSC won 15-11.
Game two
In game two of the day the Panthers took on in-state rival Huntingdon. A tightly contested contest turned the Panthers way in after they put up eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings of the game.
Connor Adams (1-0) earned the win after going four innings out of the bullpen. The sophomore allowed six hits, struck out six, and allowed three runs with only one of them being earned.
Birmingham-Southern opened up the game scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning, three of those runs came on a three-run home run by
Ian Hancock.Huntingdon got a run back in the second but BSC got it right back in the bottom half of the inning. Huntingdon would string together three innings of putting up two runs and get within one run of BSC in the top of the sixth. BSC led 8-7 as the teams entered the final three frames.
The Panthers opened the game up scoring four runs in the seventh and eighth to take a 16-8 lead.
Cam McNearney came in from centerfield to finish the game on the bump and help the Panthers to their fourth victory of the weekend.
Up next
The Panthers will host Wilmington College, Spalding, DePauw, Webster, and Adrian this upcoming weekend in the BSC Baseball Spring Classic.