BRISTOL, Tenn. –
Peter Pena drilled a solo homer down the left field line in the fourth inning of game one to lift Mansfield past King 3-2 on Sunday in the Mountaineers' season-opening weekend. King won the nightcap 10-6 to split the doubleheader.
King (7-4, 0-0 Conference Carolinas) took the weekend series, picking up a pair of wins on Saturday.
Mansfield (1-3, 0-0 PSAC East) pushed a run across in the top of the first inning of game one when
Tanner Klein singled through the left side to score
Dio Infante from second base. The Mountaineers held a 1-0 advantage until King evened the score in the bottom of the second.
The tie did not last long as Infante reached with a walk in the top of the third before scoring on a throwing error by the King third baseman to give Mansfield the 2-1 advantage. In the bottom half of the frame, the Tornados tied the game at 2-2 with a double down the line to score Nicolas Keister.
In the fourth inning, Pena welcomed the new King pitcher by hitting the first Mountaineer home run of the season and scoring what would prove to be the eventual game-winner. It was the senior's second homer in as many seasons at Mansfield.
Starting pitcher
Evan McAndrew earned the win in his 2017 debut pitching 4.0 innings. Joseph Deperno picked up the save after pitching the final inning.
Tyler Guidos allowed just one hit and struck out a batter in 2.0 innings of relief work.
Byron Ferguson took the loss for King.
In the nightcap, Mansfield started the scoring early with Hillson crossing home on a bases-loaded walk before
Ryan Paige scored from third on a wild pitch to take a 2-0 lead.
King hung a run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-2 advantage. However, with three mates aboard Infante put a bases-clearing double into left field to bring home Hillson,
Colby Schearer and
Brady Mengel and give the Mounties a 6-3 lead.
The Tornados answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game up then hung four runs in the fifth to take a 10-6 lead.
Brandon Leonard was the game two winner on the mound after pitching the final 3.1 innings with just two hits allowed and six strikeouts.
Ridge Walker took the loss.
Klein went 5-7 on the day with two doubles and two RBIs. The senior was also the starting pitcher in game two.
Mansfield is back in action next weekend when the Mounties travel to the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. to face Assumption College of the Northeast-10 Conference.
