ROME, Ga. - Thomas Johnson homered and drove in a pair of runs and Madison Moss and Travis Blackburn each collected a pair of hits to lead Berry to a 5-4 victory over Covenant at William R. Bowdoin Field Tuesday.

The Vikings (7-5) were forced to come back from a 3-0 deficit after the Scots (4-1) scored once in the first inning and twice more in the fourth.  But Johnson belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to start the Vikings offense, which was held without a hit until Moss doubled to lead off the fourth.  Moss came around to score when Johnson followed with his homer.

Berry tied the score in the fifth. Cory Pitts delivered a two-out single to right field, then stole second and went to third on catcher Jonathan Carter's errant throw to the bag.  With Cason Dremann still at the plate for Berry, Pitts darted home to score on a wild pitch by Covenant reliever Sterling Witt.

Two more Berry runs would cross in the sixth, thanks to an RBI single from Blackburn and a run-scoring double from Drew McDuffie.  That would be enough for Berry.

Still, the Scots scored once in the eighth and threatened to tie, but after Carter drove a single down the left line with runners on first and second, scoring James Rollins, Jared Carlson tried catch the Vikings defense, which was gathering on the infield, off guard and dash to third.  But McDuffie, who was holding the ball on the third base side of the pitchers mound, beat Carlson to the bag and tagged him out. 

Hillis then came in to pitch in relief of TJ Page and struck out Caleb Abney to end the inning.

Jon Stump, the third of five Berry hurlers to appear in the game, earned the victory to improve to 2-0 on the year.  The righthander allowed one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three batters in 3 1/3 innings.

Hillis pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings to earn his fourth save of the season.  He struck out two batters.

Witt took the loss for Covenant.  He allowed three runs (two earned) in three innings.

Carter and Luke Furuto led Covenant with two hits apiece.  Carter also drove in two runs.

Berry will hit the road for five games, beginning with a single game at Bryan College on March 1.  The Vikings will return home March 11, when they host a doubleheader against Bates.     

- BerryVikings.com -