Cobras Rally Behind Sutton to Take Series Opener

By: Jake Miller 

HARROGATE, TENN.- The Cobras offense backed up a solid outing by Will Sutton en route to a series-opening 4-2 victory over Lincoln Memorial in South Atlantic Conference action on Friday (Mar. 3).

The Railsplitters struck first in the bottom half of the first inning, getting two runs off of Sutton for an early lead. The Cobras responded in the top of the third when Lake Lybrand doubled to right center to score Tanner Crosby and get the visitors on the board. Both teams would stay silent until the top of the sixth when Coker would tie the game at two. Jon Koski started off the inning with a single to right center. After Koski stole second, Thomas Lopez brought him home with a single to left.

The Navy and Gold would take the lead for good in the seventh, starting with a single from Brooks Estrada. Crosby laid down the sacrifice bunt to get Estrada in scoring position with one out for Clint Allen. LMU went to its bullpen to face the right-handed hitting Allen, and the senior welcomed the new pitcher with a go-ahead RBI single to score Estrada and put Coker up 3-2. After Lybrand laid down the second sacrifice bunt of the inning, Koski would tack on an insurance run with a single through the ride side that sent Allen home to score. Koski himself would advance as far as third, but Coker was unable to bring across a third run in the inning.

Sutton (3-1) started the ninth inning but was lifted after a leadoff walk. The southpaw fired eight innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. The senior also walked three and struck out another three. Griffin Hollifield would allow one hit, but leave two runners stranded while collecting his fifth save of the year. The sidewinder struck out one in his inning of work.

The Cobras (11-5, 3-1 SAC) take on LMU to wrap up the series tomorrow with a nine inning game beginning at 1:00 p.m. with a seven inning game to follow.