Coker Athletics
Here is a recap of what happened in the past week in Coker athletics.
Baseball
Coker baseball fell in its series finale with Anderson in a hard fought 4-3 game on Sunday (Apr. 2).
Anderson struck in the top of the first, before padding their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third. Coker responded in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from AJ Strnad that scored Clint Allen. The bats were silent until the sixth when the Trojans scraped across another run in their half of the inning. Bryson Conner got the inning started with a one-out single, before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error by the Anderson catcher. Anderson was able to record the second out and leave Conner at third, before the junior would score on a wild pitch. Tanner Crosby was able to keep the inning alive with a double to left center, but unfortunately he was stranded there.
Neither team plated a run in the seventh, and Griffin Hollifield was able to hold down the Anderson bats in the top of the eighth. After Anderson’s starter was lifted for a reliever, Conner got the rally going with a leadoff walk. Jon Koski then chopped a ball to the right side of the infield and Conner advanced to second on the out at first. That gave Crosby another chance for a clutch hit. The sophomore grinded out a tough at-bat before lashing a single to right field to send Conner around to score and tie the game at three apiece.
Anderson was able to plate a two-out run in the ninth off of Hollifield (2-1), and Coker went down quietly in the ninth. The Trojans took the decisive game three and the series two games to one.
Strnad shined offensively in the effort, going 3-5 with a double. Crosby also went 2-4 with a double on the day, while Darius Coldiron and Conner each added one hit. Will Sutton got the start and the no-decision for the Navy and Gold, going 5.1 strong innings. The southpaw gave up three earned runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out two. Hollifield fired 3.2 relief innings allowing one earned run on five hits while recording one strikeout.
Softball
The Coker softball team improved to 31-11 overall and 7-3 in the SAC after sweeping Catawba and splitting their series with Tusculum. The Cobra women’s lacrosse team also picked up a pair of wins. They defeated Catawba to move to 4-1 in SAC play, and they had an impressive 9-8 double-OT win over Belmont Abbey to move to 9-3 overall. They will welcome Carson-Newman to town on April 8 for another SAC doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. The Cobras will honor their seniors during Saturday’s games and they will be wearing special pink uniforms in honor of breast cancer awareness.
Tennis
The Coker women’s tennis team fell to Lincoln Memorial 8-1 on Sunday (Apr. 2).
Jennifer Ruetten earned a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles in the effort. Coker men’s tennis fell to visiting Lincoln Memorial 7-2 on Sunday (Apr. 2) in South Atlantic Conference action. The tandem of Felix Schweyer and Simon Bergbom earned an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles, while Mark Watt picked up a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.
The Cobras travel to Mars Hill on Tuesday (Apr. 4) for a South Atlantic Conference battle. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m.
Lacrosse
The Coker College men’s lacrosse team (3-7, 1-4 SAC) lost a South Atlantic Conference matchup against Mars Hill (3-5, 1-4 SAC) by a score of 15-11 on Sunday (Apr. 2) afternoon. The Cobras trailed just 10-8 heading into the fourth quarter, and closed the gap to 10-9 with 14:09 remaining. However, Mars Hill responded with four unanswered goals to seal the victory.
The Cobras fell behind 1-0 early, but responded with three straight goals from Denton Wilks, Patrick Timothee, and Garrett Kilgore to grab a 3-1 lead. The Cobras and Lions traded goals for the next quarter before Mars Hill used a 4-0 run to stretch their lead to 9-5. Rylee Marsh brought the Cobras back, scoring three goals in the third quarter to close the margin to 10-8.
The fourth quarter opened with an unassisted goal from Garrett Kilgore to cut the score to 10-9, but Mars Hill responded with four straight goals to push their lead to 14-9 with 7:48 remaining. The Cobras made a late push with Ryan Marsh’s fourth goal, and another goal from Patrick Timothee, but it wouldn’t be enough to make up the deficit.
Vinny Magro and Rylee Marsh led the way for the Cobras. Magro had five assists on the afternoon, while Marsh scored a career-high four goals.
The Cobras will be back in action on Sunday, April 9th when they face off against Tusculum at 2pm at the Coker Athletic Field.
The Cobra women’s lacrosse team will take on Tusculum in a SAC game Saturday April 8, at 2 p.m.