HICKORY, N.C. - - A trio of Lenoir-Rhyne pitchers combined to strike out 17 UVA Wise hitters as the Bears scored a 15-2 South Atlantic Conference baseball victory in the first of a three-game set between the two schools at Durham Field Friday.

FOUR IN THE FIRST

Lenoir-Rhyne took command of the game on its first trip to the plate and never looked back. Cole Laskowski tripled in a run before a three-run homer from Luis Atiles made it a 4-0 affair.

TACKING ON RUNS

David Bell lined a two-run homer in the fourth to push the Bears lead to 6-0. An inning later, LR pushed five runs across to make the score 11-0. In the frame, Drew Yniesta hit a solo homer, Anthony Porrino singled home a run, Bryce Stober knocked in a pair and later scored on a wild pitch to account for the runs.

TAYLOR GETS CAVS ON THE BOARD

Third baseman Clay Taylor provided the offense for UVA Wise with a two-run homer in the sixth inning.

BEARS KEEP SCORING

The hosts would score four runs over the sixth and seventh inning to provide the winning margin of 15-2. Yniesta hit his second homer of the game, a solo shot for the 12th run before Laskowski belted a three-run shot.

BOX SCORE NOTES

Joshua Lanham earned the mound win for Lenoir-Rhyne as he fanned 11 while allowing two runs over six innings of work. Tanner Moyers added a trio of strikeouts over two innings of work before Henry Cartrett punched out three batters.

Bret Roberts and DJ Dickson had two hits each to lead UVA Wise.

UP NEXT

The series wraps up with a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. Fans can watch the game live on uvawisecavs.com