HICKORY, N.C. – The USCA baseball team dropped an 11-9 contest at No. 12 Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday evening.

The Pacers are now 16-7 on the season while the Bears stand at 15-4-1.

Head coach Keith Gorman's squad jumped on top in the first inning. Chancellor Jennings led off the game with a base hit and moved to third on Yariel Diaz's ground-rule double to left center field. Jennings crossed home on a wild pitch.

Trailing 9-1 in the fourth, Salvatore Laimo recorded an infield single and raced to third on Johann Rodriguez's double to left center field. Maverick Grigsby's sacrifice fly pushed in Laimo and Rodriguez scored on Joshua Johnson's RBI groundout.

Jennings led off the fifth and rocketed a double to right center field. With Jennings on third, Diaz was hit by a pitch. Blake Martin singled in Jennings before Laimo doubled in Diaz, slicing the deficit to 9-5. USCA had a chance to cut into the deficit even more with the bases loaded but a double play ended the threat.  

Osmin Melendez singled to left field with one away in the sixth. Jennings followed it up with a base knock to right center field, putting runners on the corners. Donovan Glisson singled in Melendez while Diaz doubled in Jennings, making it 9-7. Martin lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, allowing Glisson to race home. Laimo's infield single allowed Diaz to knot the score at 9-9.  

The score remained the same until the Bears regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth.

Gorman's team tried to knot it in the ninth. Rodriguez doubled to center field with one away and moved to third on a wild pitch, but USCA was unable to push across another run.

For the game, Jennings led the squad with three hits and three runs scored. Laimo tallied three hits, two RBI and a run. Diaz, Glisson and Rodriguez had two hits apiece. Diaz scored twice.

On the mound, Dylan Dickert tossed 1.2 innings and had two strikeouts. Nick Napolitano worked two-thirds of a frame and had a strikeout while Luke Norman worked 2.2 innings with five strikeouts. Brady Dunlop threw two frames and had three strikeouts. Will Eichler tossed a scoreless inning.

The Pacers return to action Friday when the host Georgia Southwestern at 6 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.