WINCHESTER, Va. - The baseball team opened the home portion of its 2004 schedule by splitting a pair of games against USA South opponent Averett University Saturday afternoon.

The Hornets' (2-4 overall, 1-1 USA South) bats were kept in check during the first game - an 8-1 loss - but came alive late in the nightcap to rally the hosts for a 12-10 victory over the defending conference champion Cougars (6-4, 1-1).

In the opening game, SU starter JR Creamer (Lovettesville, Va./Loudoun Valley) looked brilliant through four innings, trailing only 2-1 with only a second-inning solo home run counting as earned. Unfortunately the wheels fell off of the Hornets' bandwagon in the fifth inning when Averett used three hits and an error by Shenandoah second baseman Adam Kuchemba (Plains, Penn./Coughlin) to put SU in a 5-1 hole from which it could not dig out. The Cougars would tack on three more runs in the seventh inning for the 8-1 final.

In the latter half of the double header, Shenandoah gave up nine earned runs on 14 hits through five completed innings and into the top of the sixth before Head Coach Kevin Anderson brought in reliever Gerry Sasse (Philadelphia, Penn./Penn Charter) to provide a needed spark.

Trailing 9-4, Sasse proceeded to allow just one earned run on three hits through the final four innings, and just as he was shutting down the Cougars, the SU bats were waking up.

The Hornets took advantage of several errors and key hitting to torch the Cougars' relief pitching for six runs (three earned) on six hits in their final two innings.

Shenandoah's major rally came in the eighth inning when the Averett second baseman bobbled a routine grounder that allowed Joe Harpine (Fredericksburg, Va./Colonial Forge) to reach first base on what should have been the second out of the inning. The Cougars could not stop the bleeding and the SU feeding frenzy rolled into high gear. By the time Averett recovered from its freefall Shenandoah had rallied for five runs on four hits and three errors.

Complete boxscores may be located at: http://www.su.edu/athletics/bb/2004/0228041.htm
and
http://www.su.edu/athletics/bb/2004/0228042.htm

The Hornets will take the mound for the rubber match of this three game series tomorrow at 1:00.