CLINTON, S.C. – The Gardner-Webb (11-12, 1-3) baseball team dropped game one of a three-game set with Presbyterian (10-13, 2-2) by the final of 7-5 on Friday evening at the PC Baseball Complex.  

Junior Tanner Thomas led the Runnin' Bulldogs after going 2-for-4 at the dish with his third homerun of the season to go along with a pair of RBIs. Senior Lawson Knight also provided offense for GWU, launching his first long ball of the season.

Redshirt-junior Reid Bertram was tagged with the loss after tossing 3.2 innings while allowing six runs on nine hits. The Gardner-Webb bullpen came in strong, finishing the contest with 4.1 innings, giving up just a single run.

Presbyterian took an early 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third frames, but Thomas helped to cut that lead in half in the visitor's half of the fourth, lifting a solo homerun to left field with one out.

However, the Blue Hose opened a comfortable advantage during their at-bat in the fourth, scoring six times with three different players tallying at least one RBI each.

The Runnin' Bulldogs answered the call with four runs of its own in the next half inning after Knight took a 2-1 pitch deep into the night over the left center wall, scoring senior Aaron Morgan and redshirt-sophomore Drew Ripepi who walked and singled to start the rally, respectively. Thomas followed that up with an RBI single through the left side.

However, that would prove to be the last bit of scoring for either side as Presbyterian held on for the two-run win in the series opener.

Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian will return to the diamond tomorrow afternoon with game two of a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.