Hickory, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team (20-16, 6-10) opened a South Atlantic Conference weekend series with a 10-1 victory over Wingate (15-22, 6-10) Friday night at Bears Field.

Lenoir-Rhyne senior Thomas St. Clair (Winston-Salem, N.C.) improved to 9-2 on the year after going the distance and allowing just three hits and one run on the night.  St. Clair also fanned nine batters and broke his own school single-season record for strikeouts with 99.

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore first baseman Alex Reynolds (Kings Mountain, N.C.) hit two solo home runs and senior second baseman David Newcomer (Archdale, N.C.) added a two-run home run and drove in four runs to lead the Bears on offense.  

Newcomer and Reynolds hit home runs as part of a four-run first inning and the Bears never looked back.  In addition, fourth-year mentor Tom Fleenor picked up his 100th victory as Lenoir-Rhyne Head Baseball Coach.

For Wingate, Micah Goodwin (Rougemont, N.C.) hit a solo home run while Brandon Donahue (Charlotte, N.C.) fell to 6-5 after taking the setback.

The two teams wrap up the league weekend series with a doubleheader at Saturday afternoon at Bears Field beginning at 1:00 p.m.