Pioneers Defeat Stanly 10-4

SPARTANBURG -- Two big innings offensively and a solid start on the mound by freshman Jake Long (T.L. Hanna HS) boosted the Pioneers to a 10-4 win over Stanly CC on Wednesday afternoon.

Long earned the win in the first outing of his SMC career with 5 quality innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run while walking two and striking out two. 

Offensively, the Pioneers did all of their damage in the third and fourth innings. Dacen Cash (Stephens County, GA HS) led off the bottom of the third with a base hit to left, and a throwing error on Champ Rowland's (Wade Hampton HS) sacrifice bunt put runners at 1^st and 3^rd with no outs. Travis Burnside (Laurens HS) followed with a sharp single to left, scoring Cash with the first run of the game for the Pioneers. Reggie Weatherford (Lake City HS) dropped down a bunt single to load the bases with no outs, and Luke Tollison (Laurens Academy) drilled a bases clearing double one out later to put SMC up 4-1.

In the 4^th, Cash got things going again, this time with a leadoff walk, and consecutive hits by Rowland, Burnside, Weatherford, and Jackson plated four more runs. The Pioneers tacked on two more runs later in the inning to put them ahead 10-1.

Stanly scored three runs in the last two innings with the benefit of three walks and three SMC errors, but was unable to mount a serious threat as the Pioneers improved to 7-2 on the season.

Burnside led the offense with three hits and three RBI, while Weatherford and Tyler Jackson (Robert E. Lee Academy) chipped in with two hits and one RBI apiece in the Pioneers' 11 hit attack.

SMC returns to action at home this Saturday as they host Surry CC in a doubleheader at 1 pm.

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The College is in its 100th academic year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.
 
For more information please contact athletic director Mark Perdue at (864) 587-4237.