BEAUFORT, S.C. – The USCA baseball team scored at least one run in each of the first seven innings to pick up a 14-8 win at USC Beaufort Friday evening.
The Pacers are now 20-8 on the season, including 9-4 in PBC play.
Head coach
Keith Gorman's team jumped out to a 1-0 lead.
Evan Harding and
Chancellor Jennings posted back-to-back doubles for the one-run cushion.
USCA extended the edge in the second. With two down,
Maverick Grigsby belted a pitch into left field and moved to second on a
Joshua Johnson walk. After each runner stole a base,
Osmin Melendez roped a single to center field, plating two. Harding doubled home Melendez for a 4-0 lead. Jennings rocketed a single to center field, knocking in Harding.
A bases loaded walk to
Joshua Johnson plated
Salvatore Laimo in the third.
Johann Rodriguez crossed home on a sacrifice fly by Melendez. The high-powered offense plated two more runs in the fourth inning.
Yariel Diaz and
Blake Martin singled before swiping a base, putting both in scoring position. Laimo reached on an error, allowing Diaz to score. Martin scored when Rodriguez reached on an error for a 9-0 lead.
Up 9-5 in the fifth, Jennings singled and stole second. With Martin and Jennings in scoring position, Laimo lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. Martin later scored on a wild pitch for an 11-5 lead. Harding scored in the sixth off an error for a 12-5 margin.
Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh. He scampered to third on a steal and a passed ball. Grigsby walked and Johnson was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Harding walked, plating Grigsby. Jennings lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, allowing Johnson to score for an eight-run lead.
USCB scored a run in the seventh and eighth.
For the game, Jennings posted four hits, drove in three and scored. Harding had two doubles, drove in one and scored three times. Martin had two hits and scored twice while Laimo had two hits and drove in two. Grigsby and Johnson each crossed home twice while Melendez knocked in three runs.
USCA shattered the school record and PBC mark with 15 steals, including three each from Grigsby, Laimo and Rodriguez. Johnson and Martin had two steals apiece while Diaz and Jennings had one each. The team broke the previous school mark of 10 set against Lander on March 24, 2012. The 17 stolen base attempts also shattered the previous mark. The 15 steals shattered the PBC record of 12 when Lander stole 12 against St. Augustine's on March 10, 2006. The previous PBC mark for steals in a league contest was 12 by GCSU against Lander on March 29, 2009.
On the mound,
Joseph Rauscher worked six innings and had nine strikeouts to get the win.
Kyle Stock and
Dylan Dickert each worked two-thirds of an inning.
Luke Norman threw the final 1.2 frames and tallied two strikeouts.
The Pacers return to action tomorrow for the second game of the series at 2 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.
