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BOILING SPRINGS – Junior Jeremy Walker fired a one hitter Saturday afternoon to help Gardner-Webb to a 3-1 win over High Point in the second game of a key Big South Conference series.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (25-13, 5-6 Big South) improved to 22-4 at John Henry Moss Stadium/Bill Masters Field this season. It was the second complete game in a row for the GWU pitching staff.
The game lasted just one hour and 46 minutes and Walker needed only 89 pitches to complete the game. He struck out four, walked one and rolled 13 groundball outs in the gem.
It was Walker's second complete game of the season, with both coming on his home mound.
Walker retired the side in order in the first and – after issuing a five-pitch walk to lead off the second inning – he sat down 15 batters in a row before allowing a solo home run in the seventh to break up the no-hit bid.
Neither team threatened through the first three innings, as both Walker and High Point ace Andre Scrubb had sharp breaking stuff working very well in the early going.
Gardner-Webb finally got on the board in the fourth.
Collin Thacker led off with a single up the middle and Danny Sullivan followed with a Baltimore chop back through the box to put two men on. Patrick Graham followed suit, just under a diving glove with the infield drawn in, to drive in Thacker for a 1-0 lead.
Justin Kunz laid down a perfect bunt in an attempt to move up the two runners on base, but nobody covered at first and Kunz legged out an infield hit to load the bases. Scrubb rolled a 4-6-3 double play to slow the rally, but Sullivan scored from third on the play for a 2-0 lead.
Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to 3-0 in the seventh inning when Mason Fox hammered a first-pitch fastball deep over the fence in left for his second home run of the season.
High Point (22-13, 7-4 Big South) finally got on the board in the seventh, when Chris Clare broke up Walker's no hitter with a solo home run to left on a 1-1 count. That would be all Walker would allow, as he retired the next nine men in order to end the game.
Walker (5-4) picked up the win with his strong effort on the mound Saturday and was aided by an offense that produced six timely hits in a balanced effort.
Six different batters collected those hits, with Fox (1-for-3, HR, RBI) delivering the lone extra base knock. Thacker (1-for-3, run, BB), Sullivan (1-fof-3, run, BB), Graham (1-for-3, RBI, SB, BB), Kunz (1-for-3, BB) and Matt Simmons (1-for-3) also had hits for Gardner-Webb. GWU batters also walked five times in the game.
Scrubb (6-3) pitched well in the loss, allowing six hits (five singles) and three runs. He fanned nine batters and walked three before giving way to freshman reliever Nick Niarchos – who hurled 2.0 scoreless frames to keep the game within reach.
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:00 at John Henry Moss Stadium/Bill Masters Field and will air live once again on The Big South Network (bigsouthsports.com).