MISENHEIMER — With only two wins in nine USA South conference matchups so far, the Pfeiffer Falcons baseball team is looking to bounce back as it hosts a three-game home series with Greensboro College this weekend.
The Falcons (9-12, 2-7 USA South) and Pride (16-10, 5-4 USA South) will meet at Misenheimer’s Joe Ferebee Field for Game 1 on Friday at 4 p.m. and on Saturday for Game 2 (2:30 p.m.) and Game 3 (5:30 p.m.).
Pfeiffer is a combined 16-7 in matchups against Greensboro since 2018; the teams split four head-to-head games last season.
The Falcons recently picked up a win in a recent three-game home series with conference-leading Brevard (14-9, 7-2 USA South) — followed by one out of three in versus Southern Virginia (6-13, 3-6 USA South) — but the team has now dropped down to seventh place in the conference rankings.
Coming off back-to-back 18-20 seasons, Pfeiffer still managed a winning conference record in both 2022 (13-8) and 2023 (12-9), finishing in third place and fifth place, respectively.
Fourth-year coach Craig Bolton now has a 58-62 record as the team’s head coach after five seasons in an assistant role. To date, the Falcons’ top seasons in program history are a 31-7 campaign in 2018 and a 30-8 campaign in 2019.
Junior infielder Wilson Lohrer and sixth-year outfielder Zach Ferrell have emerged as two of the Falcons’ top threats at the plate this year. The former leads the team in batting average (.386) and hits (34) while the latter leads Pfeiffer in runs (27) and extra-base hits (30).
Lohrer hit two homers in the Falcons’ recent 19-7 win at Southern Virginia, propelling the team to its highest run total of the year.
On the mound, however, the Falcons have struggled to keep opposing lineups in check, allowing at least 10 runs in 11 of 21 games and surrendering 209 total runs — the second highest of any team in the conference.
Freshman pitcher Ivan Delp has posted a team-best 5.93 ERA in 30.1 innings pitched as sophomore Jake Blevins has recorded a team-high 23 strikeouts.
Delp is a reigning USA South Athlete of the Week. The Sparta, NC, native earned the win in the Falcons’ recent 13-8 victory over Brevard, where he pitched the first five innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Following Pfeiffer’s upcoming series with Greensboro, the Falcons are set for a road series at Mary Baldwin (5-16, 2-7 USA South), a home series with Methodist (14-12, 6-3 USA South), and a road series at William Peace (9-14, 5-4 USA South) to round out the 2024 season schedule before the conference tournament begins in May.