Danville, Va. – The Spartans fell down by four early on, but a seven-run seventh inning led to an 12-5 comeback victory this afternoon over the Averett University Cougars at Owen-Fulton Field.

Nick Swim turned in another solid day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs. Dan Errico was 2-for-4 with two doubles in the cleanup spot, while Taylor Vile added two hits and three runs scored of his own. The Spartans now stand at 2-3 on the season following the two-game sweep over the Cougars. 

Luke Salerno made his first start of the year for the Spartans, tossing five innings and giving up five runs (four earned) in a no-decision. Charles Stapleford relieved Salerno in the sixth and picked up his first career win after tossing four shutout innings with six strikeouts. 

For Averett, Kyle Walsh paced the squad with three hits, including an RBI triple, while Dallas Smithers and Kyle Vidano produced two hits apiece. Daniel Elliott gave up five runs scattered across six innings of work, as the club suffered its third straight loss and dropped to 1-3 overall.

The Spartans got off to a quick start in the contest with one run in the opening inning of play. Vile reached first via error to start the inning before stealing second to get into scoring position. Swim brought him home two batters later with a single through the left side of the infield to score the first run of the day and hand the visitors a 1-0 lead. 

The Cougars answered in the following frame with two runs of their own to go in front, 2-1. Walsh put Averett on the scoreboard with an RBI triple to center and then gave the hosts a one-run advantage after stealing home later in the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Cougars were at it again, scoring a pair of runs and pushing their lead to three. With runners in scoring position, Salerno was called for a balk, allowing the first run of the inning to score. Later in the frame, Smithers scored thanks to a throwing error on a groundball to hand the hosts a 4-1 lead.

Averett tacked on another run in the fourth before Castleton found an answer with two runs in the sixth. After the Spartans started the frame with back-to-back hits, Jim Buckley sent a liner through the right side of the infield to score Swim. Zach Bahan followed with a deep fly to right that brought home Errico and cut the visitor's deficit back to two.

That deficit didn't last for long however, as the Spartan bats came alive in the seventh with seven runs from five hits to put the club in front, 10-5. Swim started the scoring with a two-run double to center, and Buckley took a bases-loaded walk two batters later to plate another. Matt Jackson ripped an RBI single to center to make it 7-5 before Nick Patierne, Pat Mumford and Vile produced one run apiece to hand Castleton a five-run advantage and cap off a seven-run frame.

The Spartans tacked on two more runs in the final two innings of play to bring the game to its final score, 12-5. Castleton concludes its season-opening roadtrip tomorrow morning at 11 am when it takes on the William Peace Pacers at the North Main Athletic Complex in Holly Springs, N.C.