Box Score AIKEN, S.C.--The 13th ranked USC Aiken Pacers (12-3) blew open a 4-1 game with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning in blasting Presbyterian (9-12) 18-3 in non-conference baseball action on Tuesday evening at Roberto Hernandez Stadium. USCA pounded out 20 hits, including six for extra bases, in winning for the fifth-straight time, their 10th victory in the last 11 outings.
Three Blue Hose hurlers combined to throw 219 pitches compared to four Pacers tossing an efficient 125 on the night.
Presbyterian actually grabbed the early 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double to right center off the bat of Bobby Holmes. He finished 1-for-3 on the night but drove in all three Blue Hose runs. Kyle Craven added a 2-for-3 evening, scoring twice.
USC Aiken got on the board in the third inning as the only PC error of the night led to four unearned runs in the frame.
Chad Jacobsen singled home
Darryl Pui from second base and
Ken Raborn (3) blasted his third home run of the season off the scoreboard in left center to make it 4-1.
Raborn was 1-for-2 on the night with two runs scored and three RBI but reached base four times while Jacobsen added a 2-for-4 performance.
The big blow in the fifth inning was a bases loaded double down the left field line by
Ben Tankersley. The former Presbyterian College player turned in a career-night going 2-for-5 with four RBI.
Josh Eachues,
Zach Cooper, and
Chris Sheehan each added RBI basehits in the inning.
Cooper finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored while Sheehan, the reigning Peach Belt Conference Player of the Week, went 3-for-4.
USC Aiken tacked on two more in the six, three in the seventh, and two in the eighth as 13 of 17 players for the Pacers had at least one hit. Freshman
Kyle Rice smacked his first collegiate homer in the seventh while
Matt Montgomery was a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI in relief of Sheehan at the DH slot.
Jonathan Bolt (1-0) tossed 5.0 innings of two-hit baseball, allowing two earned runs on two walks, striking out five in the win.
Jesse Harmon (2-3) was touched for nine runs, five earned, on eight hits and three walks, striking out six in 4.1 innings in the loss for PC.
USC Aiken continues its 20-game, season-opening homestand by hosting Chowan College in the first of a two-game, weekend set beginning Friday, March 2 at 6:00 PM at Roberto Hernandez Stadium. Presbyterian returns home to Clinton, S.C. to host fellow PBC foe and fourth-ranked Georgia College & State at 2:00 PM.
Presbyterian.......010 001 010 - 3 4 1
#13 USC Aiken.....004 072 32x - 18 20 2
E - Wilson, Z.(5); Jacobsen(3); Franklin(3). LOB - Blue Hose 8; Pacers 13. 2B - Craven, K. 2(7); Holmes, B.(3); Pui(5); Tankersley(2); Montgomery(2); Eachues(1). H
R - Rice(1); Raborn(3). HBP - Craven, K.; Milner, J.; Robinson, R.; Jacobsen; Franklin. SF - Holmes, B.(1). SB - Bolchoz, W.(1); Pui(5); Tankersley(6); Raborn(1); Joehnk 2(3); Cooper(2). CS - Craven, K.(1).
