Athens, TN- The St. Andrews University baseball team dropped their first conference game of the season on Sunday afternoon as they fell 2-0 in a pitcher's duel against the defending NAIA national champions from Tennessee Wesleyan College.

St. Andrews (9-3, 0-1) will now play TWC (13-4, 1-0) in a doubleheader Monday morning at 11 am as the Saturday games were postponed due to snow in Athens, TN.

Knights senior starter Ryan Pierce (1-1) was the standout in this game as he threw 8 very  impressive innings only giving up 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) and 1 walk as he recorded 4 strikeouts to lower his ERA to a notable 2.21. However, he was out pitched on this day by Bulldog starter Corey Rhoney who threw 8 shutout innings only giving up 3 hits and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts of his own as he shut down SAU's offense.

Leading the Knights offense was senior left fielder Matt McCue who went 2 for 4 while sophomore DH Matthew Beauchemin and junior 2B Tyler Jordan each gathered a hit apiece. McCue is now tied with Beauchemin for second on the team in average at .375 and they are both trailing the leader, Jordan, who is at .438.

The Knights were also able to out hit TWC 4-3 but could not overcome the tough fourth inning as the Bulldogs were able to scratch across two runs with the help of a Knight throwing error.

Look for the results of the Knights battle with TWC tomorrow to be posted immediately on www.sauknights.com after the games.