WINCHESTER, Va. - North Carolina Wesleyan hit home runs in the eighth and ninth innings Saturday afternoon to give themselves a 3-0 Dixie Conference victory over host Shenandoah.

Shenandoah (2-11-1, 0-3) battled the Bishops (13-10, 2-1) tough for the first seven innings, but saw Chancellor Bishop give his team all the runs it would need in the top of the eighth inning. Bishop took the one out offering from SU starter Seth Foster (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield) and sent it sailing over the right field fence for a 1-0 NCWC lead.

After the Hornets went 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the frame, the Bishops tacked on two unearned insurance runs in their final at-bat. Matt Ellsworth led off the last by reaching on a throwing error by Shenandoah shortstop Manny Yanas (Palmdale, Calif./William Penn) and moved to second when Stephen Carver reached on first baseman Tyler Daniel's (Richmond, Va./JR Tucker) fielding error. Kevin Ingold then lined into a double play at short, retiring Ellsworth.

Just when it looked like the hosts would get out of the inning, Josh Lipford made the Hornets pay with a two-run home run to left field.

These two home runs were more than enough for Wesleyan starter Sean McIntyre, who gave up just two hits and four walks before turning it over to Allen Wainwright in the ninth. Wainwright came on and threw a perfect final inning to earn the save.

The Bishops performance ruined Foster's solid outing; the senior fell to 0-3 on the year despite striking out 10 and not walking a batter.

A complete box score and play by play for this game can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/bb/2003/032203.htm 

These two teams complete their weekend series tomorrow afternoon with a 1:00 contest.