SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford baseball team looked poised to run away with the game Wednesday night after a six-run fourth inning, but an eight-run sixth for UNC Asheville put the Bulldogs in position to grab the comeback win. However, a two-run double by Jack Renwick in the bottom of the eighth would put the Terriers back on top for good at Russell C. King Field, notching the 9-8 triumph. Wofford improves to 3-5 with the result, while UNC Asheville falls to 3-6.
 
Michael Sills (1-0) earned the win for Wofford after pitching the final 3.1 innings. Sills allowed three free passes, but he did not surrender a hit nor a run, and he struck out six. The win is the first of the freshman's career in just his second collegiate appearance, with his innings and strikeouts both setting new career-best marks. Matthew Marchal started on the bump for the Terriers, fanning seven in 5.0 innings of work. Like Sills, both marks are career-highs. Marchal kept things clean, allowing just four hits but no runs or walks. Andrew Herrmann and Lucas Mahlstedt were the other two Terriers to toe the rubber, pitching a combined 0.2 innings and allowing four runs each. Overall, the Wofford pitching staff touted 15 punchouts, a single-game best on the young season thus far.
 
Cole Bates (0-1) was on the hook for the loss after tossing the final 2.0 innings for the Bulldogs. He surrendered the last three Wofford runs on three hits and two walks.
 
Jack Renwick led the way for the Terriers at the dish, tallying a three-hit effort with three RBI. He reached base a fourth time via a walk. Marshall Toole totaled two hits in the affair and drove in a pair of runs in just his second-career start. He, too, reached base again by virtue of a walk. John Dempsey also reached base three times with two hits a walk. Wofford knocked 10 hits in the contest and worked nine walks as a team. The Terriers were also running with reckless abandon on the basepaths, swiping nine stolen bases as a squad, a new single-game high for the team. Renwick (two) and Toole (three) led the way with multiple stolen bases.
 
The game began quietly, seeming to have the makings of a pitchers' duel. However, the Wofford bats woke up in the bottom of the fourth and put that thought to rest with a six-run explosion to grab the early lead. First, Brice Martinez worked a bases loaded walk to bring home a run and get Wofford on the board. A balk then brought home the second run. Marshall Toole laced a single up the middle to score two more. A few batters later, Jack Renwick plated another run with an infield single. The scoring finally concluded with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lawson Hill. When the dust settled, the Terriers held a 6-0 advantage.
 
A couple of innings later, UNC Asheville responded in a big fashion of its own with an eight-run sixth inning. A double down the left field line plated the first run for the Bulldogs. A bases loaded walk scored another, and then a fielding error brought around two more. A two RBI single up the middle plated the tying run, and a second two RBI single put the Bulldogs in front 8-6.
 
Down but not out, Wofford got back to work and pulled within one run in the bottom of the seventh. With runners on second and third, a sacrifice fly to shallow right brought Hill home to help the Terriers chip away. Wofford trailed only 8-7.
 
In the next inning, Wofford continued to ride that momentum, retaking the lead. With two runners on, Renwick stepped up to the plate and delivered, ripping a double down the left field line to bring the runners home and put Wofford back on top. The Terriers led 9-8.
 
The onus was then on Michael Sills to shut the door in the top of the ninth. After striking out the first batter and hitting the second, Sills worked another punchout to bring Wofford one out away. However, the next Bulldog batter worked a 10-pitch walk to put two on base. Sills was not deterred, and on the next pitch got what he, and Wofford, needed – a fly out to center for out three and a Terrier victory, 9-8.
 
Wofford remains home for a four-game series with the University of Pennsylvania this weekend at Russell C. King Field. Game one of the set is Friday night, March 4, with first pitch slated for 6:00 p.m.