Baseball | June 19, 2023

AIKEN, S.C. - The University of South Carolina Aiken had many thrilling moments throughout the action-packed 2022-2023 season. Whether it was on the diamond, the court, the course, the tee box or the pitch, PacerSports.com is going to relive some of those unforgettable highlights that defines the Pacers' spirit a sport at a time. 
 
The USC Aiken baseball team and coach Michael Holder had several unforgettable moments this year. The team swept a total of five teams, including Carson-Newman, North Georgia, USC Beaufort, Flagler and Claflin and were never swept in a series. In mid-March, the team went 2-1 against then-No. 4 Columbus State.   
 
Nick Tripp had two games in which he hit two home runs. He did it in game one against Claflin and in that same game, Jose Hernandez also had two home runs. Tripp hit two more in game two against Augusta. 
 
James Eckert stole three bases in game one against USC Beaufort, a game in which five Pacers stole a total of eight bases. 
 
Players also garnered season long accolades. Jacob Fletcher finished top 10 in the conference in wins (8) and strikeouts (71). Dylan Wilhelm led the PBC in saves (9). Jackson Hannon led the conference in doubles (20) and Josh Sharp led the PBC in triples (4). 
 
Holder's team was involved in several close games. In game two against Carson-Newman, a double by Hannon in the bottom of the ninth broke a 4-4 tie when Eckert scored giving the Pacers the win. The very next day, finding themselves down 4-2 in the home-half of the eighth inning, a three-run inning gave the team the come-from-behind win. 
 
Game one against Francis Marion went into extra innings. With two on, a single by Eckert scored Tyler Littlefield giving the Pacers the 7-6 victory. 
 
After finding themselves down 2-0 in the series against Young Harris, USC Aiken was tied with the Mountain Lions in the bottom of the ninth. A walk-off wild pitch scored Eckert giving the Pacers the win and avoided the series sweep. 
 
The Pacers avoided another series sweep in game three against Lander in the final series of the regular season. Down by two runs, a single by Justin Byrd plated two runs giving the home team the 4-3 victory. 
 
Even with all of these electrifying triumphs, no moment was bigger than game one in the series against Augusta. USC Aiken was trailing 6-2 before rattling off five runs, including two on Joseph Mozingo's walk-off double for the 7-6 victory. The surge was led Mozingo when he singled up the middle in the bottom of the sixth. He was advanced a base at a time on a single by Tripp, a sacrifice bunt by Luke Parker, and ultimately driven home on a sacrifice fly by Kaden Blankenship. 
 
In the seventh, with two away, Hannon doubled and scored on a two-run home run by Byrd that drew the Pacers within one before Mozingo's heroics. 
 
In the postseason, USC Aiken made a run in the PBC double-elimination tournament by first knocking off Lander and Young Harris (off the back of Joel Haney's complete-game effort) before ultimately falling to the Mountain Lions. 
 
To cap the season, Fletcher, Hannon and Wilhelm were selected to the Peach Belt Conference first team, while Mozingo earned second-team honors. Haney was also named to the PBC all-tournament team.