CENTRAL, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan and Emmanuel baseball split the opening doubleheader of their delayed weekend series on Saturday.

The Warriors prevailed 5-2 in game one before the Lions stormed back late to take game two 9-5.  Both teams now sit at 4-4 overall and 1-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference.  The series finale will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. 

Game One 
The Warriors stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Stephen Wyatt and Julio Lara each doubled in a run.  The third run scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.  Both starting pitchers settled in from there as the teams traded runs throughout the final six innings.

Matt Craig tossed his first complete game of the season with seven innings of two-run ball.  Craig struck out three on the day and allowed 11 hits but didn't walk a batter.  The runs were the first the lefty has surrendered on the season in 20 innings of work.  His ERA now sits at 0.90.

SWU had only five hits in the game but were able to capitalize on their chances.  Emmanuel had 11 hits but left eight men on base and hit into one double-play. 

The Lions finally got on the board in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1 as a two-out double from Michael Crowe scored the first run.  SWU bounced right back, scoring in the fifth as Tyler Bice produced an RBI single to score Johnny Ponder.  J.J. Julian knocked in the final run for the Warriors in the sixth inning.

Game Two 
Once again the Warriors jumped out to a big lead early, scoring four times in the first but this time Emmanuel was able to come back with a pair of big innings.

The Warriors collected five hits in the opening frame as Matt Arant, Daniel Williams and Luke Hostetler all produced RBI hits.  Tyler Lollis also picked up an RBI with a groundout.  The Warrior bats came to life with 10 hits in the game, but only five in the final eight innings.  SWU scored again in the fourth as Julian double and scored on Mike Hyman's single two batters later.

Emmanuel used to big innings to stay close and ultimately take the lead.  The Lions scored three in the second as Michael Crowe blasted a three-run home run.  That followed a pair of singles from the Lions.  SWU starter Matt Buss settled down to allow just three hits over the next 4.2 innings. 

The Lions again touched up Buss in the seventh.  Back-to-back singles started off the inning for Emmanuel and after a fielder's choice, a sacrifice fly brought the Warriors lead down to 5-4.  Daniel Chappell came in to pitch after a hit batter and promptly hit a batter to load the basses.  An RBI groundout tied the game at 5-5.  An intentional walk loaded the bases an infield single brought home another run.  From there Emmanuel scored on a walk, wild pitch and wild pitch.

The Warriors loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with no outs and were unable to push a run across the plate. 

Mike Hyman and Daniel Williams each had three-hit games, the first three-hit games of the season for the Warriors.  Luke Hostetler also had a multi-hit game.

Matt Buss took the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season and Aaron Westbury picked up the win for the Lions.