In game one of a three-game South Atlantic Conference series, Andrew Patrick, a Bandys High School grad, struck out 10 in six innings of work and allowed just two runs to pitch No. 15 LR past Carson-Newman on Friday afternoon, 12-4. Patrick improved to 6-1 on the bump this year and 21-5 in his LR career. For the day, Lenoir-Rhyne pitchers Patrick, Scott Meitzler, Cole Bramhall, Michael Allen and Caleb Cockerham went 5.1 innings from the fourth to the ninth without allowing a hit.

Lenoir-Rhyne scored the first nine runs of the game with 3-spots in each of the first, second and third innings. With two outs and one on in the first, Cole Stanford singled up the middle and Blake Bean scored on an error with Stanford advancing to third.

The next batter was Tyler McPeak who slugged his 14th long ball of the season, a majestic shot over the center field fence. Sal Carricato connected on a 2-out, 3-run home run to center field in the top of the second that put the Bears up 6-0.

RBI singles by Bryce Stober and Mason Maxwell made it 8-0 and another fielding error from the Eagles plated Stober for the ninth run of the game. Patrick didn’t give up a hit until the third where Carson-Newman had four hits and pushed across four runs with only two being earned.

From that point forward, Patrick didn’t allow another hit and struck out seven in his final three innings of work. Wade Cuda drove in the 10th run of the game with a single to score Bean and make it 10-4 in the top of the seventh.

Cuda added a bomb to LF for his 10th homer of the season and put LR up 12-4.

Patrick’s 21 career wins rank him sixth in program history. Additionally, Patrick is up to 216 career strikeouts which moves him into fifth place in program history. Cuda extended his hitting streak to 11 straight.

This was the 18th game Lenoir-Rhyne has scored in double figures this season. Carricato’s bomb was the Bears’ 67th of the season which is the second-most in a single-season in program history trailing only the 2022 team that slugged 82.

LR pitchers struck out 13 batters in the game, the 24th double-digit strikeout game of the season for the staff. The Bears look to keep pace with SAC-leading Newberry this weekend. The Wolves take on Wingate and enter the weekend with a 1.5 game lead in the league standings.

This is the 99th matchup in series history with Carson-Newman. LR has gone just 14-36 all-time in Jefferson City.

The Bears are 34-9 overall, 15-4 in the South Atlantic Conference. Lenoir-Rhyne and Carson-Newman will close up their three-game series on Saturday, April 15 with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m.