Central, SC – Southern Wesleyan dropped a heart breaker to the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on Friday evening in a 13-10 final score.

The Warriors recorded nine hits in the opening game of the series against the Crusaders.  DJ Ludwick, Parker Pillsbury and Chance Fogel all recorded a multi hit game performance.  Fogel and Will Pitts doubled, and Fogel, Jordan Montgomery and Dawson Posick all had home runs.  Fogel and Montgomery each recorded three RBIs in the game.  Southern Wesleyan walked four times.

Beau Shaw started the first game of the series on the mound for the Warriors.  Shaw went 4.1 innings.  Jacob Standridge and Devyn Bond came in to pitch in relief.  Standridge led the team with four strikeouts.

 
 
Game Vitals

Final: Belmont Abbey 13, Southern Wesleyan 10

Records: Southern Wesleyan (10-34 / CC 2-23) Belmont Abbey (28-15 / CC 16-8)


 
 
How It Happened

The Warriors struck first in the bottom of the second inning.  Will Pitts led off the inning with a double to left field.  With one out, DJ Ludwick singled up the middle to bring Pitts home and give Southern Wesleyan a 1-0 run advantage.

Southern Wesleyan continued to push ahead as Dawson Posick homered to left center field to extend the Warriors lead to 2-0.

However, Belmont Abbey countered in the top of the fourth inning as Connor Tucker hit a three run home run to right field.

The Warriors challenged right back in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Parker Pillsbury led off with a single to left field and then advanced to second as Will Pitts grounded out.  Josh Asbill walked.  DJ Ludwick hit into a ground out, but both Asbill and Pillsbury were allowed to advance a base on the play.  With two outs, Jordan Montgomery then drilled the ball over the right center field wall to bring three runs in and put the Warriors on top 5-3.

The Crusaders challenged right back as they brought four runs in to score in the top of the fifth inning to allow them to take a 7-5 run lead.  A two run shot by Ben Gobbel in the top of the seventh pushed the Crusaders ahead again.

Southern Wesleyan began to chip away at the Crusaders' lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.  DJ Ludwick led off the inning with a single up the middle and then advanced to second on a ground out by Jordan Montgomery.  With two out, Sean Sutay walked.  Chance Fogel then came up to the plate and drilled the ball over the right field wall to put the Warriors within one run of the Crusaders.

The Warriors took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Parker Pillsbury led off the inning by reaching first on a walk.  Pillsbury advanced to second on a walk to Will Pitts.  An error by the pitcher allowed Asbill to reach first and brought Pillsbury in to score while advancing Pitts to third base.  With no one out, DJ Ludwick hit a sacrifice fly out to left field to put Southern Wesleyan ahead 10-9.

The Crusaders would not relent as they tied the game up in the top of the ninth inning and then went on to score three runs in the top of the tenth to win the game 13-10.
 
 
 
What's Next

The Warriors will continue the series against the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on April 23.  Southern Wesleyan will recognize their senior student athletes prior to game one at 1 p.m.  The Warriors will remain at home on April 26 as they host the Georgia College Bobcats.  Southern Wesleyan will wrap up the 2022 season on the road as they travel to Mount Olive, NC to take on the Trojans of the University of Mount Olive.