TAMPA, Fla. -- Top-ranked Tampa completed the sweep of Bentley with a 6-1 win Sunday. The Spartans begin their 2014 campaign with a pristine 3-0 record while the Falcons start their season in a 0-3 hole.
Outfielder Michael Danner kickstarted the Spartans offense in the second inning after he blasted a solo homerun to deep right field. Danner’s home run is his first of the year, and marks the second of the year for the Tampa squad.
The Spartans offense exploded in the seventh after a pair of doubles from Nick Tindall and Danner to ignite the UT attack. Pinch hitters Chris Pagliarulo and Domenic Millan followed with a pair of singles to score Giovanny Alfonzo and Jacob Tillotson, giving Tampa the 6-0 lead.
Bentley threatened in the eighth, picking up a run and loading the bases but reliever Marcus Crescentini came in and whiffed two batters to preserve a 6-1 lead for Tampa. Crescentini picked up his first save of the season after striking out all five batters he faced to close the door on a 6-1 win.
Starting pitcher David Heintz threw five scoreless innings to earn the win, striking out three batters and surrendering a pair of hits. Falcons starter David Long was tabbed with the loss, despite only allowing a single run in his four innings of work.
No. 3 St. Edward's 4, Ouachita Baptist 2
No. 3 St. Edward's 6, Ouachita Baptist 4
AUSTIN, Texas -- Third-ranked St. Edward's pounded out six runs in the seventh inning of game two to spark the Hilltoppers to a 6-4 victory and a doubleheader sweep of Ouachita Baptist Sunday afternoon at Lucian-Hamilton Field. After losing two heartbreaking games on Saturday to the Tigers, St. Edward's got two brilliant pitching performances and fought off late rallies in both games to win 4-2 and 6-4.
In game one, St. Edward's (2-2) wasted little time getting on the board. Myles Wright led off the inning with an infield single. After a sacrifice bunt moved Wright to second and a walk to John Alexander, Wes Koenig stepped to the plate and laced a double down the right field line to score Wright.
The Hilltoppers added to the lead in the third inning, getting RBI-singles from Ransom Lalonde and Kevin Mayo. Cutter Runter drew a walk with the bases loaded to make the score, 4-0.
Hilltopper starting pitcher Collin Sherrod picked up where he left off from the 2013 season. The southpaw allowed just two hits through the first six innings and no real scoring threat by the opposition.
Ouachita Baptist would scratch across two runs (one unearned) in its final at-bat, but Sherrod finished them off for the complete-game victory. He would end by allowing four hits, while walking one and striking out six batters.
In the second game, both starting pitchers had things rolling. Ouachita Baptist starter Craig Daniell and Bobby Scott for the Hilltoppers each held the other team in check for the first six and half innings.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Hilltoppers broke through. With the bases loaded, LaLonde drove in a run on a fielder's choice for the first run of the game.
Scott (1-0) picked up the victory in game two, allowing just three hits, while walking two and striking out six in 7.0 innings of work for the victory.
Koenig led the Hilltoppers at the plate for the weekend, pounding out an .467 (7-15) batting average with three doubles, three runs and three RBI.
No. 4 Mount Olive 15, Winston-Salem State 4
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- DeAndre Allen, Cody Britt, Willi Martin paced Mount Olive's19-hit attack with three hits apiece as the nationally fourth-ranked Trojans completed a season-opening three-game series sweep with a 15-4 victory against Winston-Salem State Sunday. Every Trojan starter collected at least one hit.
Mount Olive (3-0) started game three off after Jay Gonzalez reached first base on an error, stole second and advanced to third on an error by the catcher. Gonzalez scored on Chase Edwards' RBI groundout that moved Bradon Reitano to second. Rob Shipman's rbi-double to right center scored Reitano. The final run came off of Martin's rbi-single to left field that scored Shipman, giving the Trojans the early 3-0 lead.
The Trojans continued their offensive attack by adding three runs in the second. It was started when Britt reached on an error and advanced to second on the throw. DeAndre Allen worked out a walk and Gonzales reached on an error by the pitcher scoring Britt and pushing Allen to third. Zak Orrison added the final two runs of the inning with his two rbi-single as both Gonzales and Allen crossed the plate.
Mount Olive scored two runs off three hits in the top of the fifth inning and also added one in the sixth also off three hits.
The Rams scattered one run a piece in both the fourth and seventh.
The big inning came in the top of the seventh where the Trojans added six runs off five hits. Gonzales walked to start off the inning and scored off Reitano's RBI-double down the left field line. Edwards followed him with an RBI-single.
Gunner Kines worked a solid three innings of work only giving up two hits and striking out three to earn his first win of the year.
No. 8 South Carolina-Aiken 10, Lincoln Memorial 0
AIKEN, S.C. -- South Carolina-Aiken picked up a 10-0 victory against visiting Lincoln Memorial Sunday afternoon in a non-conference contest.
The Pacers are now 2-0 on the young season.
After a scoreless first two innings, head coach Kenny Thomas' team broke the tie with a run in the third frame. Kody Belcher led off the inning with a single to left and moved to second on an infield single. Ty Barkell's grounder to third allowed Tyler Moore and Belcher to move up 90 feet. Matt Bosse's sacrifice fly plated the first run of the contest.
In the fourth, the Pacers broke the game open.
Ben Donath led off the stanza with a walk and moved to second on a balk. Ryan Metzler's single to left pushed Donath to third. Then, Sean Miller's double down the line plated both runners for a 3-0 advantage.
After a walk to Belcher, Moore reached on an error that allowed Miller to score. Barkell doubled home Moore, forcing a pitching change.
With two outs, Donath doubled down the line scoring two. Metzler later singled to left, scoring Donath for a 9-0 advantage.
USC Aiken added to its lead in the fifth by scoring another run. Moore singled to center with one away. Barkell followed him up with a one-base hit to left center as Moore scampered to third.
Bosse's sacrifice fly pushed the margin to 10-0 before LMU got out of the inning.
Wissman was pulled after the fifth frame. In the win, he gave up just two hits while striking out seven. Wissman did not walk a batter while making quick work of the visitors.
In the win, Moore, Barkell and Metzler all had two hits apiece. Bosse, Donath and Miller all had two RBI each while Belcher, Moore and Donath each scored twice.
Belcher, T.J. Costen, Randy Luckett and Miller all had one hit in the win.
For the game, USC Aiken notched 10 runs on 11 hits with two errors. Lincoln Memorial had just three hits and an error in the contest.
