SALEm, VA--The Roanoke College baseball team improved to 2-5 on the season with a 5-3 win over Averett University on Sunday afternoon in Salem, VA. The win avenged a loss to the Cougars by the same score just one week prior. Averett falls to 2-4 overall on the season.

The Cougars jumped on top of the Maroons with a single run in the top of the third inning. With one out, John Stearrett reached firstbase after getting hit by a pitch. He stole second and then came around to score on a Maroon throwing error.

The Maroons had several chances to even the score. In the bottom of the third, the hosts had runners on first and third but were unable to bring in any runs. In each of the next two innings, the Maroons again stranded two runners on base. The Maroons also avoided giving up any more runs in the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded, Roanoke starter Jonathan Wills (Salem, VA/Salem) forced a Cougar batter to ground into a 4-6-3 double-play to get out of the jam.

Taking the momentum from the seven inning double-play, the Maroon bats came alive in the bottom of the frame. Leadoff hitter Matt Vess (Clifton Forge, VA/Alleghany) was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Mike Eubank (Roanoke, VA/Northside) followed with a single to secondbase, moving Vess to second. Justin Bradley (Gladys, VA/William Campbell) sacrificed Vess and Eubank over a base. Sophomore Brennan Thacker (Forest, VA/Jefferson Forest) then reached on a fielding error by the AU leftfielder, letting Vess to trot home from third. With the outfield shifted towards rightfield, Brandon Wilson (Smithfield, VA/Smithfield) doubled to left, bringing in Eubank from third and sending Thacker to third.

Nathan Unroe (Iron City, VA/Alleghany) continued his hot hitting, singling up the middle to score Thacker and Wilson and giving the Maroons a 4-1 lead. The team scored four times on four hits in the inning.

For good measure and some insurance, the Maroons added another run in the bottom of the eight. The two-out rally started with a Bradley triple to deep centerfield, a hit that took one bounce before hitting the wall. Thacker then hit safely, an infield single, to give the Maroons their fifth run. The Cougars mounted a small comeback attempt in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs before Unroe shut the door to record Roanoke's first save of the season.

Wills earned the win for the Maroons, pitching seven innings of two-hit baseball. He allowed just the one run, which was unearned, and also struck out eight Averett batters. Unroe pitched the final two innings in earning the save. He also had two hits in the contest and drove in two of the team's runs.

The Maroons are back in action on Friday evening when they host Rutgers-Newark in a 6:30pm contest at Salem, VA's Kiwanis Field. The Maroons and Rutgers-Newark will also play on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.