VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The NC Wesleyan College Baseball team used 16 hits to pick up a 7-5 road win over Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday, their 5th win in their last 6 games.

NCWC used multi-hit games from 7 different players and quality starting pitching from senior Michael Smith to pick up the non-conference win. Wesleyan outhit the Marlins 16-8 led by a home run and 2 RBIs from senior 2B Brad Pennington. Pennington now has 3 homers and 11 RBIs on the season. Sophomore 1B Jackson Murray also led Wesleyan with his 3-hit game and currently leads the team with a .407 average.

Wesleyan grabbed a 3-1 lead by scoring 3 runs in the third inning on RBI singles from Murray and freshman CF Drifton Padgett and Max Johnson scoring on a wild pitch. Pennington's home run made it 4-1 in the 5th while RBI singles from senior LF Moses Vigo and Pennington made it 6-1 in the sixth.

Senior SS Alec Titmus then added an insurance run for the Bishops in the 7th in his RBI single that scored Murray and gave Wesleyan a 7-3 lead. Smith (1-1) left after 6 solid innings allowing just 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

Reliever Alex Crosby then came on to relieve Smith in the 7th and allowed one run each in the 7th and 8th inning as the Marlins began to claw their way back into it. However, freshman Chandler Padgett came on in the 9th to close out the game as he escaped a two-on, one out jam with a strikeout and a flyout to pick up his first career save.

Recording two-hit games on the day were Pennington, D. Padgett, Titmus, Vigo, catcher Nick Beaver, and 3B Trey Posilero.

Wesleyan improves to 7-10 on the season dropping VWU to 5-9.

The Bishops return to action on Friday when they head to Greensboro College for the first game of their conference series at 6 PM.