Gaffney, SC -- The Pfeiffer baseball team opened up its season with a double-header in Gaffney, SC, as they took on the Limestone Saints and the Carson-Newman Eagles. The Falcons dropped both games on the day, but also had plenty bright spots to open up the new campaign.

Game 1: Limestone 4 Pfeiffer 3    Win: Seaward (1-0) Loss: Richmond (0-1) Save: Mullinax (1)

The opening game of the 2018 season saw Limestone and Pfeiffer locked in a tight battle, with the Saints edging out the Falcons by a run. Offense was hard to come by for both squads as Pfeiffer could only muster up 5 hits, while Limestone collected 7 hits on the contest. First year Falcon Bryan Kowalski collected 2 hits and drew a walk in his Pfeiffer debut. Outfielders Jordan Eckard and Kirby Lambert each had 1 RBI on the afternoon, with Lambert hitting his first homerun of the season in the fifth inning.

Nick Richmond got the opening day nod for Pfeiffer and threw 5.1 innings and struck out 6 while walking 2 in his first start of the new campaign. Sophomore Will Altemueller came out of the bullpen and threw 2.2 innings of shutout baseball, including striking out 3.

Meanwhile for Limestone, second baseman Tim Bouchard collected 2 hits on the game and scored a run. First baseman Zach Piazza went 1-2 with 2 walks.

Game 2: Carson-Newman 13 Pfeiffer 10   Win: Victory (1-0) Loss: Reid (0-1) Save: Gardner (1)

In game 2 of the afternoon, Pfeiffer lost another close contest against Carson-Newman 13-10. The baseball was flying all over the park, as both teams combined for 3 homeruns and 7 extra-base hits. For the Falcons, senior Derek Perry hit his first homerun of the season to straight away center field to lead off the game. For the game, Perry collected 2 hits, 2 walks, and scored 3 times. Kirby Lambert also had a solid game at the plate, going 2-6 with 2 RBI. Senior catcher Christian Marciano went off with the bat, collecting 4 hits in 4 at-bats while driving in 2. Damon Smith collected 2 RBI's on the game, while Bryan Kowalski came through with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Pfeiffer held a 10-9 lead going into the bottom of the seventh when the Eagles came up with four runs in the inning, and pitchers Ryan Victory and Will Gardner closed the door to seal the 13-10 win.

Brett Langhorne led the offense for Carson-Newman, going 2-3 with two homeruns and 4 RBI's. Cade Snapp also went 2-5 with a homerun and 3 RBI's.

The Falcons hit the field again when they play a four game series at home, starting with a double-header on February 16 at 4 p.m. against Indiana-South Bend and another double-header against Indiana-South Bend on February 17 at 1 p.m.