Box Score AIKEN, S.C. – The nationally 10th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team completed its season-opening three-game sweep of Lincoln Memorial with a 2-0 shutout victory over the Railsplitters on Sunday afternoon at Roberto Hernandez Stadium.
The Pacers have now swept the Railsplitters in each of the past two seasons. USC Aiken (3-0) and Lincoln Memorial (0-3) have now played their first three-game series of the year against one another for the past nine seasons. USC Aiken owns a 28-13 all-time series advantage over Lincoln Memorial.
In a game that was a pitcher's duel for most of the contest, USC Aiken plated the only two runs it needed for the win in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pinch hitter JJ Loker (Elkton, Va./Spotswood HS) plated the game-winning run for USC Aiken when he singled in Ben Donath (Aiken, S.C./Middle Georgia). The Pacers would then claim another run later in the frame when Ryan Metzler (Glen Burnie, Md./Siena) scored on a wild pitch.
Five different Pacer pitchers combined to allow just seven hits to the Railsplitters. The Pacer pitchers struck out a combined 14 Railsplitters in the game.
Taylor Peed (St. Leonard, Md./Calvert HS) acquired the win in relief of starter Wyatt Brown (Suwanee, Ga./Middle Georgia), who pitched the first five innings and allowed just four hits. Brown fanned seven in the game.
Peed (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth to claim the win.
Jake Padgett (Gilbert, S.C./Gilbert HS) then struck out three in the seventh before Caleb Smith (Aiken, S.C./Coastal Carolina) struck out one Railsplitter in the eighth.
Taylor Grover (North Augusta, S.C./Midland Valley HS) obtained his first save of the year by dealing a scoreless ninth. He struck out two.
No Pacer or Railsplitter was able to claim multiple hits in the contest with each team having seven players with one hit.
USC Aiken will next welcome non-conference foe Carson-Newman (1-2) to Roberto Hernandez Stadium for a three-game series. The three-game set will commence at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8. The series will then end with single 1 p.m. games on Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10.
