AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team lost a 18-9 decision to Coker Tuesday evening.
The Pacers are now 12-35 on the season.
Head coach
Michael Holder's team trailed 6-0 through the first 1.5 innings but got on the board in the bottom of the second.
Dalton Graves recorded a one-out walk. Two batters later, he moved to second on
Luke Parker's base on balls.
Cade Bouknight singled, loading the bags.
Doom Dennis drew a walk, making it a 6-1 game.
The Cobras struck for five runs in the third, but
Josh Sharp led off the stanza with a single to center field. He scored on
Jack Hobson's triple to center field. Hobson scored on a groundout by
Kaden Usry. Moments later, Bouknight singled in
Joseph Mozingo to pull the squad within seven at 11-4.
The score remained the same until the sixth frame.
Brock Myers earned a one-out walk and scored when Sharp laced a home run over the right field wall. Hobson followed it up with a single to center field and moved to third on Usry's double. Graves lifted a sacrifice fly to right field for an 11-7 score.
Coker scored six runs in the seventh for a 17-7 edge, but Holder's team continued to battle. Sharp led off the eighth inning with a single to left field. Hobson singled up the middle and the bases were full of Pacers after an error as Usry reached on a fielder's choice. A failed pick-off sent the ball into right field, allowing Sharp and Hobson to race home.
For the game, Sharp led the way with a four-for-four effort with two RBI and scored three times. Hobson tallied three hits, including a triple, and scored three times. Bouknight registered two hits in the contest.
On the mound,
Jacob Fletcher got the starting nod.
Caden Purvis,
Connor Sampers,
Lucas Highberger,
Evan Condon,
Jacob Bodkin,
Jaylen Merchant and
Adam Krissinger all saw time in the contest. Condon struck out two batters while Highberger, Krissinger and Merchant had one strikeout apiece.
The Pacers return to action Saturday when they host USC Beaufort in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.