AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team registered a 16-7 victory over Shepherd Thursday evening.

Christian Aragon got the starting nod on the mound. Through five innings of work, he gave up 10 hits and walked one while striking out four. Aragon held the Rams to six on the board.

Head coach Kenny Thomas' team took the lead early on, putting up five runs in the bottom of the first. Jose Bonilla led off with a double to right center was followed by Joey Smithers, who reached on an error by the shortstop. After both advanced one base on a wild pitch, Daulton Weeks singled to bring home Bonilla, leading to Smithers advancing on another error. Brian Parreira then stepped to the plate and hit a homer to score both Smithers and Weeks for a 4-0 lead.
 
Two batters later, Philip Watcher slammed a home run to right center to make it 5-0.
 
The game turned into a bit of a pitcher's duel until the bottom of the fourth, where USC Aiken plated five more runs to make the score 10-3. With one out, Bottomley was put on after being hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. Chandler Rogers and Bonilla drew walks, followed by Smithers tapping a single out to center field to plate both Bottomley and Rogers, and moving Bonilla to second. Both players moved one station on a wild pitch, and then Bonilla was brought home on a sacrifice fly by Weeks. Parreira stepped up to the plate again for another round-tripper.
 
Shepherd managed to plate three more in the top of the fifth to make it 10-6.
 
This time though, the Pacers responded with another run in the bottom of the fifth. Nile Goings walked to lead off, advancing to second on a wild pitch. Watcher singled Goings over to third and then stole second. Bottomley flied out for a sacrifice, bringing Goings in to make it 11-6.
 
Things were quiet again until Shepherd brought another one home in the top of the seventh to make it 11-7.
 
In the bottom of the seventh though, USC Aiken managed to gain another five runs to make it 16-7. Goings walked and it was followed by walks for Watcher, Bottomley and Rogers, pushing Goings back across home plate for a run. Smithers then grounded out to second, bringing Watcher across home and moving Bottomley and Rogers up a station. Then to finish off the scoring for the inning and game, Weeks blasted a home run to bring in Bottomley and Rogers.
 
For the game, Parreira had three hits while Weeks and Watcher registered two hits apiece. Bonilla, Smithers and Durden also earned a hit. Christian Aragon walked away with the win.
 
On the mound, Jarod McElyea and Jordan Brown worked one inning apiece, giving up no runs while striking out one each. William Ard tossed one inning and struck out one while giving up one run, while Jacob Rye threw one inning and struck out two with no runs given.
 
The Pacers return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.