AIKEN, S.C. – The USCA baseball team secured an 8-7 victory over No. 9 Catawba Wednesday evening in a region affair.
The Pacers are now 16-19 on the season while the Catawba Indians fall to 23-10.
Head coach
Michael Holder's team jumped out to an early advantage as
Josh Sharp scored on a groundout by
Donovan Glisson. With
Capers Molinaroli on base,
Brody Yeomans crushed a towering shot over the right field fence for a 3-0 lead.
USCA increased the margin to 5-0 with two more runs in the second.
Tyler Casciato belted a two-out double to left center field and scored on a base hit by
Eliud Poventud. Moments later, Poventud scored on a sacrifice fly by Molinaroli for the five-run cushion.
The Catawba Indians plated four runs in the fourth and one in the fifth, tying the game at 5-5 entering the bottom of the sixth.
After a lengthy lightning delay, the game was restarted at 9:15 p.m.
Down 6-5 in the seventh, Poventud doubled with one out and hustled to third on a fly ball by Sharp. Two batters later,
Hunter Thompson singled Poventud in to tie the score.
Yeomans singled to lead off the eighth and promptly took second on a wild pitch. After a walk to
Jack Hobson,
Brandon Osypczuk drew a base on balls to load the bags. A full count walk to Sharp pushed across Yeomans for a 7-6 lead. Four pitches later, Molinaroli trotted to first on a walk that drove in Hobson.
For the game, Yeomans garnered four hits, including a home run and a double. He had two RBI and scored twice. Poventud tallied two hits and scored twice. Molinaroli had a pair of RBI.
On the mound,
Cole Evilsizor got the start and worked three scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Damien Ashley tossed 2.2 innings and had a strikeout. Jacob Huse worked one-third of an inning while
Nick Taddei tossed two innings to get the win.
Charles Herring, Jr., worked the ninth to get the save.
The Pacers return to action Friday when they travel to Georgia College for a three-game series starting at 6 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.
