Baseball | February 28, 2023

Each week, USC Aiken will produce notes. This week, the Pacers travel to Central, S.C. on Wednesday, March 1, to play Southern Wesleyan. Then on Friday, March 3, conference foe USC Beaufort will host the Pacers for a three-game series in Hardeeville, S.C. 
 
Recapping Last Week
 
The Pacers are now 9-4 (3-0 PBC) on the season after going 1-2 against Embry-Riddle last week. Friday night's game was suspended due to rain and was concluded Saturday afternoon before the regularly schedule game. USC Aiken lost game one of the makeshift doubleheader, but shutout the Eagles in game two. A hard fought battle on Sunday saw the Pacers fall 7-6 in 10 innings. 
 
Unique Inning
 
In game one of the "doubleheader", the Pacers found itself in a deficit following a unique first inning that saw the Eagles collect four runs on zero hits. 
 
USC Aiken managed to put two runs on the board thanks to efforts by Justin Byrd in the first inning and Luke Parker in the sixth. Each drove in runs with singles. The Eagles' two runs in the second inning allowed them to earn the 6-2 win. 
 
Game Two Shutout
 
The Pacers posted their second shutout of the season from the combined efforts of Matt Garcia, Austin Sandifer, and Dylan Wilhelm during game two of the makeshift doubleheader. The trio only gave up three hits in the 2-0 win. The two runs were scored when Josh Sharp singled and continued to advance bases on errant throws. The two runs crossed home plate before Sharp was thrown out at third trying to gain another base. James Eckert and Bryce Toci accounted for the runs. 
 
Extra Innings
 
In Sunday's matchup against the Eagles, it took until the eighth inning for the Pacers to get anything going. Trailing 5-0 early, Jackson Hannon flied out to left field scoring Joseph Mozingo making the score 5-1. 
 
Embry-Riddle scored a run in the top of the ninth making the score 6-1 going into the final three outs for USC Aiken. The Pacers scored five runs in those three outs, tying the game at 6-6, and sending the contest into extra frames. 
 
The Eagles scored the winning run in the top of the 10^th. With runners on second and third, the Pacers struck out swinging to end the game. 
 
Inside The Numbers
 
Since moving to Division II, the Pacers are 136-60 (69.4 percent) in Wednesday games, 153-106 (59.1 percent) in Friday contests, 349-237 (59.6 percent) in Saturday matchups, and 210-155 (57.5 percent) on Sundays. During that same time, the team is 11-8 on March 1, 7-4 on March 3, 13-6 on March 4, and 15-8 on March 5. 
 
Against The Opponents
 
The Pacers are 2-0 historically against the Southern Wesleyan Warriors with both wins coming at home. The three-game series against the USC Beaufort Sand Sharks will be the first matchup in the schools' history as the Sand Sharks are competing in the Peach Belt Conference for the first time in the 2022-2023 academic year since their move from the NAIA's Sun Conference.