NEWBERRY, S.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne College freshman first baseman J.R. Hopf hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the fifth-seeded Bears to a 9-8 victory over Newberry College to advance in the elimination bracket at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference baseball tournament Friday morning at Bill Harvey Field at Newberry High School.

Hopf’s home run was the fifth on the day for the Bears who scored in every inning but two. L-R had homers in the second through the fifth innings, including three that led off the inning. Senior second baseman Craig Sizemore’s lead-off round-tripper in the fifth gave the Bears a 6-1 lead.

The Indians responded with five runs in the top of the sixth inning. Four of those runs came off the bat of sophomore third baseman Stuart Kay, who’s grand-slam tied the game at 6-6.

The teams traded runs in the next two half innings and Lenoir-Rhyne entered their at-bat in the eighth inning trailing 8-7. Sophomore pinch hitter Dustin Day led off the frame with a four-bagger to knot the score at 8-8. After the Indians were held scoreless in the top of the ninth, Hopf’s one-out circuit clout clinched the win for the Bears.

Freshman Justin McLeymore got the win for the Bears, pitching 3.1 innings of two-hit relief for his fifth win of the season. McLeymore allowed two runs, neither of which were earned. Sophomore Chris Griffin took the loss for Newberry to drop to 1-2.

Lenoir-Rhyne (31-19) stays alive with the win and will face Mars Hill College in an elimination game at Kirkland Field later today at 5 p.m. Newberry finishes the 2002 campaign with a 16-39 record.

Food Lion / SAC Spring Sports Festival – Game 5
Newberry College vs Lenoir-Rhyne College
Apr 26, 2002 at Newberry, SC (Bill Harvey Field)


Newberry College 8 (16-39)               Lenoir-Rhyne College 9 (31-19)
Player                     AB R H BI     Player                     AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Gilmore Stevens lf......... 5 2 2 0      Jarred Caputo ss........... 5 0 1 1
Ryan Bessinger 2b.......... 5 2 3 0      Brian Neill 3b............. 4 0 0 0
Dustin Smith dh............ 4 1 1 1      Chip Bradford cf........... 5 1 2 2
Gene Dotson cf............. 3 1 1 0      Paul Pope rf............... 5 1 2 1
Stuart Kay 3b.............. 4 1 1 4      Israel Campbell dh......... 5 1 2 1
Wade Roof ss............... 4 0 2 1      J.R. Hopf 1b............... 4 2 3 1
Travis Moore 1b............ 4 0 0 0      Joe Nichols lf............. 4 1 2 0
Joey George p.............. 0 0 0 0      Brian Tester c............. 3 1 2 1
 Chris Griffin p........... 0 0 0 0      Matt Howell p.............. 0 0 0 0
                                          Justin McLeymore p........ 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 37 8 12 8      Totals.................... 38 9 16 9


Score by Innings                   R  H E
-------------------------------------------
Newberry College.... 010 005 200 - 8 12 1
Lenoir-Rhyne College 021 211 011 - 9 16 3
-------------------------------------------

Note: 1 out, 0 runners LOB when the game ended.

E - George, J.(6); Caputo(5); Sizemore 2(6). DP - Newberry 1. LOB - Newberry 4;
Lenoir-Rhyne 9. 2B - Stevens, G.(6). HR - Kay, S.(7); Day(2); Sizemore(5);
Bradford(3); Pope(4); Campbell(2); Hopf(3). SF - Kellner, A.(3); Tester(2). SB -
Stevens, G.(17). CS - Campbell(2).

Newberry College             IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joey George ............... 4.0 8 5  4  1  1  0 0  0   0  18 20  7 3
Chris Griffin L,1-2.......  4.1 8 4  4  3  3  0 0  0   0  20 23  3 6

Lenoir-Rhyne College         IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Howell .............. 5.2 10 6  5  1  3  0 0  0   0  24 26  4 8
Justin McLeymore W,5-5.... 3.1  2 2  0  0  5  0 0  0   0  13 13  2 3

PB - Tester(3).Strikeouts - Bessinger, R; Kellner, A. 2; Smith, D.; Kay, S.; Moore, T. 3; Caputo;B. Neill; Campbell; Tester. Walks - Dotson, G.; Sizemore 3; Hopf.
Start: 8:58 am Time: 2:34 Attendance: 101