DANVILLE, Va. -- Nick Boothe notched his 600th career victory as the head baseball coach at Virginia Wesleyan College on Sunday, putting him in an elite group of intercollegiate coaches nationally.

Boothe is now among only 30 men who have notched 600 career wins as a Division III baseball coach.  But, anyone who knows the long-time coach also knows he was probably more ecstatic about his young Marlin team posting its third straight win of the season, a 5-1 non-conference decision over the host Averett University Panthers.

After four losses, including a pair of one-game decisions, against a pair of top 15 teams to start the season, the Marlins have rebounded impressively.  They started with a sweep of Rutgers University-Newark on Saturday an continued winning Sunday at Averett (3-4), spurred by a big third inning.

Rookie Austin Gammon (North Chesterfield/Lloyd C. Bird) reached base on a fielder's choice that moved rookie C.J. Lindsay (Remington/Bealeton Liberty) to second and scored junior Zach Bach (Virginia Beach/Frank W. Cox).  Bach opened the inning taking a base on an Averett error and moved to second when Lindsay drew a walk.

Rookie Chris Gilliam (Mechanicsville/Hanover) helped the Marlins to extend their lead to 2-0 in the inning when he sacrificed into left field, scoring Lindsay.  Senior Brett Sutryk (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) kept it going with a single to left.  VWC's lead stretched to 3-0 when rookie Justin Erby (Norfolk/Lake Taylor) reached on a fielder's choice that moved Gammon to third.  He scored on another Averett error.

Virginia Wesleyan tacked on a fourth run in the top of the fifth when Bach reached on a fielder's choice that sent rookie Ty Boothe (Virginia Beach/Floyd E. Kellam) for the score. Boothe singled to open the inning, moved to second on a single by rookie Taylor Erby (Norfolk/Lake Taylor), and advanced to third on a balk.

Averet scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the inning on a single to left by Hunter Ashworth (Danville, Va./Tunstall).  He scored Andrew Davies (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) who singled to lead off the inning.

Virginia Wesleyan opened up a 5-1 lead with a solo run in the top of the seventh, helped by an RBI-single by Gammon to right.  He scored Bach who singled to center field earlier. Lindsay also singled before Gammon stepped up to the plate.

Averett threatend with three runners on in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Virginia Wesleyan's shut down both efforts.  Senior Brooks Kirby (Warwickshire, England/Cobham) struck out back-to-back innings to end the seventh and the Marlins turned a double play from Lindsay to Gammon to ruin the eighth for the Cougars.

Averett batters were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth.

Gammon led VWC hitting with a double and a single.  Five Marlins stroked a single each.  Chatham Currie (Concord, N.C./Mount Pleasant), Cody Moore (Yorktown/Grafton), and Davies recorded two hits each for Averett.

Junior Alex Tucci (Stewartstown, Pa./York Catholic) worked into the seventh inning to post the pitching win for VWC.  He struck out five batters, walked three, gave up seven hits, and allowed just one earned run. Kirby closed out and notched the save.  He aced 10 batters and fanned three, while allowing just two hits.

Averett used three pitchers, starting with Cody Johnson (Smithfield, N.C./Cleveland), who worked four innings, before Timothy Coston (Knightdale, N.C./Knightdale) and Taylor Davis (Clayton, N.C./Clayton) were called in. Johnson struck out two batters, walked three and gave up two hits.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Tuesday, Feb. 25, playing at Christopher Newport University at 2 p.m.

--AMDG--