Â鶹ÊÓƵ

 |  MURFREESBORO, NC – The Â鶹ÊÓƵ baseball team improved to 24-21 and 12-3 in the CIAA after a doubleheader sweep of Winston-Salem State University on Thursday afternoon. The Hawks handed the Rams, the #6 ranked team in the Atlantic Region, their first CIAA losses of the season. WSSU fell to 30-15 overall and 12-2 in the league after Thursdays games.

The Hawks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning to give starter  cushion to pitch his fourth win of the season.  led the first inning off with a single up the middle.  blasted a double to left center field, scoring Arcobasso and giving Chowan a 1-0 lead.  followed Lanier's double up with a triple to right field, scoring Lanier from second and giving Chowan a 2-0 lead.  gave the Hawks a 4-0 lead in the next at-bat with a two run shot to left field marking his 10th homerun of the season.

Smith went on to pitch a two-run game before being replaced by . Smith ended his five innings of work with his fourth season win, nine strikeouts, five hits, and two earned runs. Puma pitched one out in the fifth, giving up three earned runs before being replaced by Cooper. Cooper went to town shutting down the Rams offense for his first save of the season. He pitched. 1.2 innings giving up just one hit and striking out four in six batters faced.
The Hawks pounded out 11 hits led by Lanier who posted a 3-4 plate performance with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Cooper ended the game 2-3 with two runs batted and two scores. Arcobasso hit 2-3 from the lead off position. Brosdahl and  each went 1-1.

 picked up the start in the second  game. The Rams struck first in game two with two runs in their first at-bat for a quick 1-0 lead. Cooper came up big again with a two run single in the bottom of the first inning to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the second inning.

Kaplan went to work on the mound to keep the Rams off the board for the next three at-bats.

In the top of the 5th inning, the Rams took the lead back after plating a pair of runs for a 3-2 lead.  replaced Kaplan in the top of the 6th inning and pitched out of the inning unharmed.

The Ram lead lasted half a frame after Cooper led the bottom of the sixth inning off with a single up the middle.  pinch ran for Cooper and later scored to tie the game at 3-3 on a  double to left field.

With the game all tied at 3-3, Lipscomb, the most experienced pitcher for the Hawks this season, started the top of the 7th as the pitcher of record.  Lipscomb got the Hawks out of the top of frame with three straight outs, bringing up  and then the top of the lineup. Jones made first base after being hit by a pitch. With Jones at first, Arcobasso singled to left field. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch while Lanier was at the plate. Lanier walked to load the bases with no outs and the game winning run at third base. Lanier's walk brought shortstop Marvin Harrell, Jr. to the plate. Landon Steiner, who came in for relief of Jordan Carlton, hit Harrell with a pitch and scored Jones from third base for the 4-3 win.

Chowan tallied seven hits in the second game win with Markotay going 2-2 at the plate. Arcobasso and Cooper each finished 2-3 with Cooper also collecting two runs batted in.

Chowan will wrap up the regular season with a two-game series at USC-Aiken on Friday, April 28th and Saturday, April 29th.