ASHEVILLE, N.C. – With the score tied at 3-3 entering the eighth inning, the Wofford baseball team rallied to push across a pair, and Alec Bouchard locked down the contest in the ninth for a 5-3 Wofford triumph over UNC Asheville Tuesday evening at Greenwood Baseball Field. The Terriers improve to 27-11 with the Bulldogs dropping to 17-21.
 
Mike Eggert (7-3) picked up the win in relief for Wofford as the middle of five arms. Eggert tossed 2.2 innings with no runs or hits allowed. His only blemishes were a pair of walks, but he countered those with two punchouts. Mason Compton started, pitching 3.0 innings with two runs on four hits with three strikeouts. Morgan Lunceford then tossed 1.1 frames of one-run ball, striking out one. After Eggert toed the rubber, Kenny Michaels provided a scoreless inning with a punchout before Alec Bouchard (3) notched the save by pitching the final frame. He needed just six pitches to strike out a batter and induce a double play, ending the contest.
 
Bulldog reliever Shea Walker (0-1) suffered the loss after facing only two batters, giving up a hit and plunking another over just six pitches of effort. But one of those runners would score, and he proved to be the decisive tally.
 
Dixon Black, Tyler Hare and Daniel Jackson led the way offensively with two hits each. All three players drove in one run. Both Black and Hare lifted solo homers. Marshall Toole added a hit, extending his on-base streak to 38 games.
 
Toole added a pair of stolen bases with Hare also swiping one. Lucas Manning added an RBI, which proved ultimately to be the winning one.
 
Wofford wasted no time getting on the board. As the second batter of the game, Dixon Black connected on the first pitch he saw and rifled it over the left center field fence for a solo home run. The blast gave the Terriers a quick 1-0 edge.
 
The Terriers doubled their lead in the top of the third. Marshall Toole reached on a bunt single and promptly swiped second base. A batter later, Daniel Jackson ripped a single through the left side, enabling Toole to scurry around and score for a 2-0 lead.
 
But Asheville pulled level in the bottom of the frame, utilizing a two-run single with the bases loaded. The game was tied, 2-2.
 
The Bulldogs pulled ahead in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single, claiming a 3-2 edge.
 
However, Wofford got its response in the top of the sixth to pull the game back tied. Tyler Hare launched a no-doubt solo shot to right, moving the score to 3-3.
 
After a scoreless seventh, the Terriers found their rally in the eighth to pull ahead. With one out and David Wiley on first after getting hit by a pitch, Hare singled up the middle on a perfectly-executed hit-and-run, setting up runners on the corners. Lucas Manning grounded out, but it was enough to push Wiley across for the go-ahead run. The Terriers added an insurance run when Hare raced home on a wild pitch, making the score 5-3.
 
Kenny Michaels kept Asheville off the board in the bottom of the eighth, and after a walk to open the ninth, Alec Bouchard came on looking for the save. And that's just what he got after notching a strikeout and forcing a double play, icing the 5-3 Terrier triumph.
 
Wofford returns home this weekend for a three-game SoCon series against Western Carolina. Game one against the Catamounts is Friday evening with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Russell C. King Field.