One flawed inning costs Dolphins win

SHALLOTTE—Call it Murphy’s Law compounded.

If something can go wrong, it will—and usually multiple times in the same inning.

Brunswick Community College cautiously rode a 1-0 lead for five innings before unraveling in the sixth and falling 5-1 to Lenoir Community College Saturday afternoon.

“We weren’t able to make the plays,” Brunswick coach Robbie Allen said. “We couldn’t at that point and time get to where we could field it and throw it and catch it, and it just snowballed.”

The Dolphins had jumped on the visitors in the first inning when Charlie Gore led off with a double down the right-field line, and Chris Eason, batting second, singled up the middle to score Gore.

The score stayed 1-0 in favor of the home team, and Brunswick Community College’s Chris Williamson kept the Lenoir Lancers’ bats quiet, pitching a 1-hitter until the sixth.

The Dolphins committed four errors in that frame—three fielding the ball. Add in a hit-by-pitch and three Lenoir RBI singles, and the Lancers batted around to take a 5-1 lead.

“That’s baseball,” Lenoir coach Stoney Wine said of Brunswick’s flurry of errors. “We’ve done the same thing ourselves.

“In time, they’ll be a very solid program because they’re going about things in the right way. For a first-year team, Brunswick Community College is very impressive with the bat. We’ve been at this for a while. You could tell Brunswick Community College is very well-coached, and I thought they were aggressive at the plate and hit the ball well.”

The Dolphins had two doubles Saturday, while the Lancers had no extra-base hits.

No one from either team hit a home run as a stiff and sometimes swirling wind blew across the West Brunswick baseball field that the Brunswick Community College team also uses as its home field.

“The wind definitely affected the ballgame,” Wine said. “We have the wind, too, except ours blows straight out instead of straight in.”

Without extra-base hits, the Lancers took advantage of singles and errors to score runs. Lenoir had four of its six singles in the Dolphins’ disastrous sixth inning.

Brunswick Community College brought in left-hander Frankie Everitte to pitch with two outs in the sixth, but Ben Billingsley singled to right field to score the fifth and final run before Everitte got Ryan Norton to fly out to left field.

Lenoir changed pitchers with one out in the seventh, as Brandon Price relieved Drew Sowers.

“Drew threw a bunch of sliders today, and his pitch count got up to about 75, so we took him out,” Wine said.

When Sowers is not throwing so many off-speed pitches, he usually stays in for up to 95 pitches, the coach added.

The Lancers have a 31-9 record this season.

Gore and Jeremy King each had a double for the Dolphins, while Eason, Derek Cozzolino and Noah Hawkins each had a single.

Brunswick Community College has a 10-25 record. In the school’s first season with a varsity baseball team, the Dolphins have lost 15 one-run games.

“I think it’s because we’re so young,” Allen said. “I think we can’t close it out because we’re all freshmen except for one sophomore (John Child), and he’s a closer. When we get that far, we seem to be OK.”

Brunswick Community College’s next home games are at 1 p.m. April 26 and 27 on the West Brunswick baseball field.

LCC 000 005 0—5 6 1

BCC 100 000 0—1 5 6

WP: Sowers. LP: Williamson

Leading hitters: LCC—Billingsly 1-for-2 (RBI), Lanier 1-for-2 (RBI), Ginn 1-for-2, Seymour 1-for-4 (RBI). BCC—Gore 1-for-3 (2B), King 1-for-3 (2B), Eason 1-for-3, Cozzolino 1-for-3, Hawkins 1-for-3.

LENOIR CC 8

BRUNSWICK CC 0

Lenoir won the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader 8-0.

Gore, Eason and King each went 1-for-3 for the Dolphins. Freshman Jordan Davis took the loss on the mound.

LCC 300 211 0—8 15 0

BCC 000 000 0—0 3 4

LENOIR CC 9

BRUNSWICK CC 1

The Lancers won Sunday’s game 9-1 after putting six runs on the scoreboard in the sixth innng.

Gore and King each smacked a double for Brunswick Community College, Davis had an RBI single and T.J. Overman had a single. Freshman Kyle Harmon took the loss for the Dolphins.

LCC 000 126 0—9 1 4 BCC 000 010 0—1 5 6