AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team picked up a pair of wins over No. 25 UNC Pembroke Sunday by scores of 4-3 and 12-4.
The Pacers are now 2-4 on the season.
Trailing 1-0 in the third inning of game one,
Sean McQuillan drew a two-out walk. When
Jeff Cyr was hit by a pitch, McQuillan moved to second.
Jackson Hannon singled to right field, knotting the game at 1-1.
USC Aiken took a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Morgan Hyde walked and hustled to second on a wild pitch. With one down,
Nick Tripp and
Trey Polewski were each hit by a pitch, loading the bases.
Marcus Mastellone walked, driving in a run. Two batters later, Cyr singled, pushing the margin to 3-1.
The Braves knotted the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth stanza.
Tai Gilbert led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Hyde. A passed ball pushed him to third.
Jose Hernandez took the first pitch he saw and ripped it to left center field, giving the Pacers a 4-3 win.
For the game, Gilbert and
Jackson Hannon had two hits apiece.
Lindsey Robinson Jr. got the starting nod and struck out five in five innings.
Henry Cartrett worked the last four frames to pick up the win.
In game two, USC Aiken took a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
Kaden Blankenship doubled in Hyde before a groundout from
Joseph Mozingo's grounder allowed
Tyler Littlefield to score. A
James Eckert base knock pushed Blankenship across home plate for the three-run lead.
The Pacers broke open the game in the third. Hyde's single drove in Hannon. Littlefield singled in Gilbert before an error allowed Hyde to score for a 6-0 edge.
Leo Horacio's base hit pushed Littlefield across home plate.
Blankenship scored on a fielder's choice before Horacio scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-0. A Cyr triple scored McQuillan. Hannon's single drove in Cyr for the 11-0 lead.
Leading 11-2 in the fourth, Mastellone doubled in Blankenship, who had reached base with a single to left field.
The Braves pushed across two runs in the fifth to make it 12-4.
Alex Stobert got the start and worked five innings to pick up the victory. He had three strikeouts in the game.
Blake Seigler tossed three frames and had a pair of strikeouts.
Austin Sandifer worked the final inning and had a strikeout.
At the plate, Hannon led the way with three hits. Blankenship, Hyde and Littlefield had two hits apiece. Blankenship crossed home three times while Hyde and Littlefield each scored twice.
The Pacers return to action Friday when they host Georgia Southwestern at 6 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.