MURFREESBORO – Chowan College split a pair of baseball outings with North Carolina Wesleyan College this weekend.

The Braves suffered a 5-3 setback Saturday afternoon at Hawkins field before putting on a dominating performance in Rocky Mount to grab a 16-4 Sunday afternoon win.

&uot;Saturday was just one of those days when we couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it,&uot; first-year skipper Aaron Carroll said. &uot;We had plenty of opportunities, but just didn’t get it done.

&uot;Sunday, it seemed every time we got in a situation to score, we did,&uot; he added. &uot;That’s just baseball sometimes.&uot;

The Braves opened Sunday afternoon’s contest with four runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the contest.

Michael Kellett led that attack with a two-run single that plated Matt Dize and Patrick Swift.

After Wesleyan added a single run in the home half of the first, the Braves led 4-1. They extended that lead in the fifth.

Brandon Hamlett and P.J. Sadler started the inning with back-to-back singles before Swift jacked a three-run bomb that pushed Chowan’s advantage to 7-1.

The Braves added four more in the sixth, one in the seventh and another four in the eighth to pull away to the easy victory.

Hamlett led the Braves with a 3-for-3 day at the plate. He also scored three runs. Kellett was 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI’s and Danny Lydon was 4-for-5 with one RBI.

Nathan Hilliard started for the Braves and went seven innings, giving up three runs while striking out seven.

Ryan Bennick and Taylor Furlough closed out the game for Chowan.

The win boosted the Braves to 12-6-1 on the season.

The Bishops struck early Saturday, scoring two runs in the second inning to grab the lead.

Josh Lipford began with a single to centerfield before Brian Massey doubled. Ryan Snyder and Scott Faison had back-to-back groundouts that scored Lipford and Massey respectively to give Wesleyan a 2-0 advantage.

That lead went to 4-0 in the fourth thanks to a Snyder RBI double and an error.

Chowan cut into the lead in the home half of the fourth frame when Nick Hagler had a solo homer to leftfield to trim the margin to 4-1.

The Braves got closer with a run in the sixth and the seventh.

In the sixth, Swift doubled with one out and scored on a Dize RBI-single to make it 4-2.

Brandon Hamlett then homered in the seventh to get the Braves within 4-3, but that was as close as they got.

The Bishops added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a Snyder RBI-double and the Braves went down after a single hit in the bottom of the final inning.

Chowan travels to Newport News Apprentice School today (Tuesday) for a 2 p.m. date before hosting Virginia State in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Carroll said both clubs would be challenging in different ways.

&uot;Apprentice has been playing really well of late, a lot better than when in our tournament,&uot; Carroll said. &uot;It’s always tough to play those guys.

&uot;Virginia State, if we play up to our capabilities we should be able to handle them, but games like that concern me,&uot; he added. &uot;Sometimes when a team isn’t playing well, you have a tendency to play to their level. We can’t do that Wednesday if we want to win.&uot;