Asbury Athletics at a glance

Published 4:03 pm Friday, April 19, 2024

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Men’s and women’s tennis finished up their historic seasons on Saturday, as baseball took two of three on the road. Track and field continued their inaugural season with an impressive showing at Centre.

Men’s and women’s tennis

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Asbury men’s tennis (11-5) and women’s tennis (14-1) traveled down the road to Berea College to face Berea and Piedmont College on Saturday evening. AU has had an impressive year so far but was stunted by Piedmont in the first matches of the day, falling 9-0 (M) and 7-2 (W). Despite that loss, Asbury went on to finish out their season with a complete sweep over Berea, with both teams taking the victory, 9-0. After losing on the doubles side for the women, Asbury battled for a singles victory. AU’s only two victories over Piedmont came from Ariadna Zegarra (No. 1) and Fernanda Heredia (No. 4), with Heredia winning a tight third set tie-breaker, 10-7. On the men’s side AU fell to Piedmont’s intense offense and had four of the singles matches going to third set tie-breaker. Alejandro Caceres, Ignacio Ardiles, Ben Moore, and Andres Caceres each took their opponent to the third set but ultimately fell in the end. Against Berea the women put up their fourth shutout of the year, only giving up seven sets from the nine matches played. Megan Moore and Martina Paillet took an 8-0 doubles win, with both girls winning their singles spots. Malory Watkins and Mikaela West both secured 8-0 wins in the 5 and 6 singles spots. The men turned around from their loss and ended their season with an almost complete shutout over Berea. The Eagles only gave up two sets through the doubles matches, and completely swept the singles side. Ignacio Ardiles and Franco Patino took their 8-2 win in the No. 1 spot and Yuri Tirado and Gregorio Bustingorri sweeping in the No. 3. Franco Patino, Ben Moore, Ignacio Ardiles, Alejo Britos, Ignacio Murillo, and Yuri Tirado all swept their opponents on the singles side, aiding AU’s complete victory.  Both teams are concluding the year with some of the best records put up in the program in recent years. Asbury men conclude their successful season at 11-5, with key wins such as the spring break sweep and the win over Covenant College. Asbury women conclude their historic year 14-1, one of the highest records in program history. The Eagles went on an impressive 13-match win streak, almost going undefeated on the season. AU picked up four complete shutouts over the season against their opponents.

Baseball

Asbury freshman engineering mathematics major Ryan Yates took his second career win for Asbury and MBA student Noah Brown collected four hits in Saturday’s doubleheader against Wright State Lake University (15-17) in Fairborn, Oh., as the Eagles (15-14) took game two (13-1) but slipped in game one (3-1). The Eagles were held to one run in the seven-inning game one, but scored 13 on nine hits in game two to even the series. Jackson Cole went 4.2 innings in game one with three earned as AU committed no errors, while Yates started game two with six innings of no runs and two errors.  Cam Weaver went 2-3 with three RBIs, a double, two runs scored, and two walks. Kaden Dugle had a triple in game two with two RBIs. Quinn Nobles had two hits in game one. Ethan Cartwright had a home run in game two with two runs scored and a walk. Jacob Camfield gave 1.1 innings of scoreless work out of the bullpen for AU in game one with three strikeouts. Andrew Billington and Jackson Cole eac had two runs scored in game two, Billington with a hit and two RBIs. Holten Handel and Parker Bowles each gave an inning of scoreless work out of the pen in game two.

Sophomore business administration major Quinn Nobles and senior exercise science major Colton Perkins combined for six hits to power Asbury baseball (16-14) over Wright State Lake University (15-18) in the deciding game three of the weekend series in Fairborn, Ohio, 10-9. Asbury freshman right-hander Nathan Kaufman came on in late innings for 2.2 innings of scoreless work with five strikeouts to earn his second win of the season. AU had 13 hits and committed no errors in the game, committing only two the entire series. Andrew Billington had two hits with two runs scored including a double. Cam Weaver had three RBIs and a run scored. Noah Brown had a double with two runs scored after his four-hit day yesterday. Kaden Dugle had three walks with a run scored. Brody Bearden got the start and went 2.1 innings with five strikeouts and three earned runs. 

Mens and womens track & field

Asbury men’s and women’s track and field collected four top-five finishes, a first-place finish, and one school record as the men’s team finished sixth of 11 teams and the women took seventh of nine teams on Friday in Danville, Ky., in the Centre Twilight Meet. Wes Preston, Sam Webb, Luke Holton, and Davis Brown took home the title in the 4×800 run. Wes Preston and Josh Rittgers also added points to the men’s side with their finishes in the 5000m. Rittgers finished seventh and Preston finished fifth. Freshman political science major John Rahbany continues to lead AU track, setting another school record and personal best on Friday in the long jump with a distance of 6.65m (21′ 9.75″). In the shot put, freshman Brendan Funke threw an outdoor season-best of 13.40m (43′ 11.5″) to place third overall. Another leading freshman for AU women, Bailey Gassmann, finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:27.23. In the 1500m Gassmann placed fourth followed by sophomore Ava Miller in eighth. The team travels to Cincinnati on Saturday for their last meet before the NCCAA Outdoor National Championships in Columbia, SC., May 8-10.