Box Score SALISBURY, N.C. – The nationally ninth-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team won the rubber game of the season series with 28th-ranked Catawba, 15-3, on the road Tuesday night.
Sean Miller (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding HS) drove in seven runs and scored one in the game to lead the Pacer offense. Miller finished a double short of the cycle and one RBI short of the USC Aiken single-game record for RBIs.
USC Aiken (31-8) opened the scoring with one run in the second inning before putting up five runs in the third inning. The Pacers added three more in the fifth to score the first nine runs of the game. Miller opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second inning that scored Ryan Metzler (Glen Burnie, Md./Siena).
The Pacer offense opened up the game with five runs in the top of the third inning, which started off with three straight singles by Josh Miller (Chapin, S.C./Chapin HS), Bryce Baur (Moncks Corner, S.C./Florence-Darlington Tech) and Bill Gerstenslager (Solon, Ohio/Mercyhurst).
Gerstenslager's single drove in Miller. An infield single by Ben Donath (Aiken, S.C./Middle Georgia) would score Baur. A few batters later, Tyler Moore (Evans, Ga./Evans HS) singled to plate Donath. Then Sean Miller singled in Metzler, and Moore scored on a throwing error on the play.
In the fifth inning, Moore singled to center field to score Donath before Miller hit a two-run bomb to left field that also plated Moore. Miller tripled to right center field driving in Moore and Metzler again in the seventh inning to give the Pacers an 11-1 lead.
Catawba (30-14) scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to get on the scoreboard, and they added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Paul Kronenfeld hit a two-run double in the seventh to cut the lead to 11-3.
The Pacers continued to pour it on with a bases-clearing double by Metzler in the eighth inning. Baur, Ty Barkell (Denver, Colo./Palmer Ridge HS) and JJ Loker (Elkton, Va./Spotswood HS) scored on the play. Miller then picked up another RBI-single that plated Metzler to extend the lead to 15-3.
USC Aiken out-hit Catawba, 20-9, in the game.
Seven Pacers collected multiple hits in the game. They were led in their victory by Sean Miller and Moore, who both went a perfect 4-for-4. Moore scored three runs and drove in another two in the game.
Metzler had three hits, three RBIs and four runs scored in the victory. Josh Miller, Baur, Gerstenslager and Donath all picked up two hits for USC Aiken.
Keaton Hawks and Kronenfeld were the only Indians to secure multiple hits in the game
Seven Pacer pitchers combined in the victory, with Zach Hayden (Martinez, Ga./Middle Georgia) earning the victory. Hayden (2-1) struck out two and surrendered a run in one inning pitched.
Starter Sean Grant (0-2) took the loss for Catawba in two innings of work.
USC Aiken and Catawba split the first two games of the season series at Roberto Hernandez Stadium in early March. The then sixth-ranked Pacers won the first game, 7-6, but dropped the second game, 7-4, to the then 25th-ranked Indians.
The Peach Belt Conference-leading Pacers will next travel to Greenwood, S.C. for a national top-10 showdown with No. 10 Lander on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13.
The top-10 showdown between the current top two teams in the Peach Belt Conference standings will begin with a 7 p.m. single game on Friday, April 12. The series will then close with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13. The first game of the doubleheader is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
