The Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team had a rough ending to their weekend trip to Auburn University at Montgomery as they were held to three hits and shut out in a 11-0 defeat.

An eight-run eighth inning for the Warhawks secured their first victory of the season as they were able to work through five different Bears pitchers in the frame alone.

Despite the look of a lobsided score, Lenoir-Rhyne was on the doorstep for much of the game prior to the Warhawks’ big eighth inning. In the sixth, the Bears had the bases loaded with one out, but a chance to get on the board was squandered when the Warhawks were able to turn a double play and escape the situation.

After making an appearance out of the bullpen earlier this week, Cole Bramhall got the start for the Bears. The redshirt sophomore transfer went 4.0 innings deep on the mound and looked better in his second appearance, however he was dealt with the losing decision.

Although the Bears only had two hits in the contest, Hogan Stallings and Nathan Kidder each recorded extra-base hits with Stallings’ double in the third inning and Kidder’s double in the ninth inning.

Pitchers Chipper Mcginnis, Joey Cobb, Parker Kanupp, Casey Kruger, and Roland Thivierage were all used for the Bears in the eighth inning.

Jarren Wright led all Warhawks hitters with a three-hit afternoon, which included a pair of doubles; Brook Brannon, Kasey Clark and Cooper Doughman all had multi-hit days with two hits each.

For their first win of the season, AUM will be happy about their performance as they notched a 1.060 OPS (On Base + Slugging Percentage).

The Bears struggled to put the ball in play as they had another double-figure strikeout performance with 10 punchouts.

Even with the loss, Lenoir-Rhyne wins their first series of the season with the doubleheader sweep over AUM on Saturday. This was the first time that the Bears and Warhawks faced each other in any competitive manner, so Lenoir-Rhyne now holds a 2-1 all-time series record over AUM.

In losing efforts this season, the Bears have had a challenging time making contact as they have a combined two runs in two separate defeats. The Bears’ opponents have had significantly more success at finding the gaps this year with 11 doubles compared to the Bears’ four.

This trip for the Bears was the longest series trip of the regular season with the two schools being separated by 412 miles.