FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. - Behind six shutout innings from Preseason First-Team All-SAC starting pitcher
Andrew Patrick, the Lenoir-Rhyne baseball team opened the 2022 season with a 4-0 shutout of Emmanuel.
Drew Yniesta went deep in his first game as a Bear, and the LR bullpen pitched three shutout innings to preserve the opening day shutout.
"Really happy with how we played today," said head coach
Chris Ramirez. "Patty gave us a great start, he battled early and then settled in great, and I was proud of the way we kept at it on offense. We hit the ball really hard all day long and we didn't have much to show for it early, but I loved the way our guys kept at it and found a way to push across some runs.
We looked like a baseball team today. We pitched it well, we turned double plays, we bunted when we needed to, and we got timely hits. We always tell the guys to just be baseball players no matter where they are on the field, and I think we embodied that today."
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 4, Emmanuel 0
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (1-0), Emmanuel (1-1)
Location: Frankling Springs, Ga. | Tommy Carey Baseball Field
STATS AND INFO
- The Bears stranded two men on base in the first inning as both Yniesta and Wade Cuda singled, but a lineout and a flyout ended the threat.
- LR turned the first of two double plays behind Patrick in the first inning, 6-4-3.
- The second double play went around the horn 5-4-3 in the 3rd inning.
- The first run of the season came in the top of the 4th, and the rally started with two outs. Nick Clarno got aboard with a bunt single, and Anthony Porrino followed that up with a single. Then, with two strikes, Scott Meitzler singled in Clarno for the first run of the game.
- Yniesta hit a solo shot with one out in the top of the 5th to left field. He hit 11 home runs last season for Erskine and homers in his first game for LR.
- LR got its final two runs in the sixth inning. Bryce Stober singled to lead things off, and Clarno sacrifice bunted him to second. Stober moved up to third on a Porrino groundout, and an RBI infield single for David Bell pushed the third run across. Cole Laskowski rounded out the scoring with an RBI single later in the inning.
- The Bear bullpen pitched a clean final three innings, with Jackson Reid pitching the 7th, Michael Allen pitching the 8th, and freshman Spencer Floyd closing things out in the 9th.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- This is the second time in three seasons that LR has shut out the opponent on opening day. The Bears also blanked Southern Wesleyan to open the 2020 season.
- Patrick gets his first win of the season after winning six games last year. The righty was named to the All-SAC Second-Team after last year's performance.
- Yniesta's home run was the first for LR this year after the Bears hit 63 in just 41 games a year ago, best in the SAC and Top-30 in the nation.
UP NEXT: The Bears and Lions will play a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. with a 7-inning game.
