Box Score MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga.--
Steve Dunham went the distance as #27 USC Aiken (17-7, 5-5 PBC) took game one of a key Peach Belt Conference baseball series with #25 Georgia College & State University (16-11, 7-6 PBC) 4-3 in 10 innings on Friday night at John Kurtz Field. It is the Pacers' sixth win over a top 30 team in 10 tries this season and third in the last four meetings with the Bobcats.
Dunham (4-1) tossed 10.0 innings of solid baseball for his fourth win in five decisions this year. The senior right-hander scattered nine hits allowing three earned runs, walking two and striking out nine.
The Bobcats threw their ace in Matt Goyen. In the pitchers duel, Goyen worked 8.0 innings surrendering just two earned runs on four hits, walking five and also fanning nine in the no decision. Jayson Bennett (2-2) pitched the final 2.0 innings giving up the game winning runs in the 10th inning on one hit and two walks in the loss.
GC&SU got on the board first in the home half of the first frame following an RBI double off the bat of Mike DeVeaux plating Hans Stancil for the game's first run.
Still 1-0 in the fourth, the Pacers got the equalizer from
Brandon Barenie. Following a leadoff walk to
Daniel Quartararo, Barenie's two-out double down the right field line brought around Quartararo. Despite an 0-for-2 night at the plate, Quartararo drew three walks and scored three of the Pacers' four runs.
Barenie squeezed home Quartararo in the sixth to give USCA its first lead of the game 2-1, a score that held up until the eighth when DeVeaux delivered a double down the left field line scoring Chris Pinns from third, knotting the game at 2-2.
USCA got two in the 10th, one on an RBI single by
Robert Davis and then Quartararo scored with the eventual game winner when Hatcher's ground ball to second base was booted by Stancil.
The Bobcats made it interesting in the bottom of the 10th as Wes Sorrells led off with a solo homer to left field, but Dunham finished off GC&SU by retiring the next three batters in order for the 4-3 win.
Davis went 2-for-5 to lead the Pacers while Barenie,
Casey Derhak, and
Darryl Pui each had a hit.
USC Aiken and GC&SU will conclude their three-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1:00 PM. The Pacers are trying to snap a string of six-straight road conference series defeats dating back to April 2003.
#27 USC Aiken......000 101 000 2 - 4 5 1
#25 GC&SU............100 000 010 1 - 3 9 2
E - Dunham(1); Stancil(8); Sorrells(1). DP - Pacers 2; Bobcats 1. LOB - Pacers 7; Bobcats 5. 2B - Barenie(3); DeVeaux 2(7). HR - Sorrells(4). SH - Barenie(5); Joehnk(5); Mills(7). SB - Stancil(10). CS - Derhak(6); Barenie(4).
