AIKEN, SC – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team recorded a 7-5 loss to the Emmanuel Lions Tuesday evening after 13 innings of play. The Pacers are now 7-20 on the season.
Head coach
Michael Holder's team found themselves down 1-0 at the bottom of the first inning.
Dalton Graves was the first runner to get on base after being walked.
Capers Molinaroli knocked a grounder through the infield gap to occupy first and send Graves to second, but no runners came home in the opening frame.
Brock Myers turned a lead-off bunt in the bottom of the third into a double off an error, and
Joseph Mozingo was intentionally walked. A double from
Kaden Usry sent Myers home for the first run of the night.
Cade Bouknight was walked, and the bases were loaded with two outs. After the third inning, the Pacers deficit sat at 3-1.
Usry hit a ball into center field for a single in the bottom of the fifth. Bouknight hit a missile that just stayed fair to give him a double and send Usry home.
Doom Dennis launched a two-run home run to give the Pacers their first lead of the evening. They head a 4-3 advantage heading into the sixth inning.
The bases were loaded for the Lions in the top of the eighth with no outs, but the Pacers did not allow any runners to cross home plate to keep their lead heading into the bottom frame. Parker, Graves, and Molinaroli were walked to load the bases in the bottom of the eighth. A sacrifice fly from Mozingo sent Parker home to increase the lead to two. The team held a 5-3 lead heading into the final inning, but the Lions would knot it up and force extra innings.
Heading into the bottom of the 13
th, the Pacers were down 7-5. The Pacers threatened in the bottom of the 13
th, but the squad was unable to push across any runs.
Evan Condon got the start on the mound, pitching 3.2 innings while striking out five batters. He gave up three runs, including two earned.
Louie Smith,
AJ Deibel,
Caden Purvis,
Cole Evilsizor,
Matt Garcia, and
Blayne Newman also saw time on the mound tonight.
Bouknight and Dennis each recorded three hits in the contest, and two of these were extra base hits for Bouknight.
The Pacers will stay home to kick off the series against Columbus State Friday evening at 6. Live stats and video will be available on PacerSports.com.