Hickory, N.C.-- Lenoir-Rhyne's Baseball team opened their 2021 season with a sweep of visiting Coker on a cold and damp Sunday afternoon. The game served as the official opening of Durham Field, which was fully turfed over the winter. The Bears bullpen pitched 11 innings without giving up an earned run while David Bell and Drue Galassi homered in the game one and Connor Smith added a pitch-hit home run in game two. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Game One Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 14, Coker 1
Game Two Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 13 ,Coker 3
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (2-0), Coker (0-2)
Location: Durham Field | Hickory, N.C.

STATS OF GAME ONE:
-Coker had the bases loaded in each of the first two innings, but Bears starter Alex Shirazi got a 1-2-3 double play in each inning to get out of threat without any runs scoring.
-The Bears jumped on the Cobras with one run in the first and two in the second but only had one hit through two.  A sac fly by Nick Clarno and RBI groundouts by David Bell and Drue Galassi got the Bears a 3-0 lead after two. 
-Shirazi pitched four innings giving up just three hits and one run on the afternoon. It was Shirazi's second straight season-opening start for the Bears. 
-Clutch hitting lead to the Bears to a six-run fifth inning. Xander Ferlenda and Galassi both had two-run singles with two outs to extend the lead to 9-1.
-Centerfielder Galassi, a grad transfer, got his first career homerun in a Bears uniform with a solo shot in the bottom of the 7th to gave the Bears 10-1 lead
-David Bell capped off the scoring with a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th to give the Bears the 14-1 win. Bell finished 1-3 with the HR and five RBIs.
-Joshua Lanham earned the victory out the bullpen for the Bears. Lanham was schedule to start game 3 of the series but with yesterday's game getting rained out, Lanham came in relief in the 5th inning and pitched four innings while only allowing two hits and striking out six Cobras. 

STATS OF GAME TWO: 
-Lenoir-Rhyne sent thirteen hitters to the plate in the first inning of the nightcap. The Bears used three walks and two Coker errors to run out to a 7-0 lead. Mike McHugh, Bell and Ferlenda all had RBI singles in the inning. 
-Coker responed in the top of the second to load the bases with no outs but Bears starter Andrew Patrick struck out the next three Cobras to get out of the threat. 
-Patrick threw 3 innings in his LR debut, striking out six but allowed two runs on one hits and five walks. 
-Bears got scoreless innings from Brett Fulk, Jackson Reid, Ian Foggo, Michael Allen and Braden Houston.
-Connor Smith added a pitch hit solo homerun in the bottom of the 7th. It was the sophomores first homerun of his career. 
-Galassi went 3-5 in the second game to finish the doubleheader with five hits. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
-This was the first time the Bears have opened their season at home since the 2014 opener against North Greenville. 
-Bears moved to 2-0 in season openers under Coach Ramirez. Last year, the Bears won 3-0 against Southern Wesleyan. 
-Bell's grand slam in the 8th inning of game one was the Bears first grand slam since E.J. Ranel hit one against Anderson on March 2, 2019.
-Bell finished the two games by going 3-8 and 7 RBI's. 
-Bears took advantage of 17 walks by the Coker pitching staff in the two games today, The Cobras also had 14 wild pitches in the two game set.

UP NEXT:  LR will open SAC play with a four-game series against #8 Catawba at home starting Saturday.