No. 9 Patriots sweep baseball twinbill at UNCP
PEMBROKE, NC – Third baseman Keon Graves and catcher Jared Barkdoll each hit home runs to help ninth-ranked Francis Marion University build a two-run lead in the seventh and the Patriots held off a ninth-inning rally to slip by UNC Pembroke 4-3 in the opening game of Saturday's Peach Belt Conference doubleheader at Sammy Cox Field. A two-out RBI double by senior shortstop Greg Phelps in the 11th inning allowed FMU to slip past the Braves 6-5 in the second game.
In game one, Francis Marion (12-2, 1-0) got two hits apiece from four different players, including Phelps who stretched his hitting streak out to 22 games in the opener by singling twice in five trips to the plate. Justin Greene, Preston Shuey and Vince Farfaglia each registered two hits apiece for the Patriots as well.
Jason Coker drove in a trio of runs on a 1-for-3 hitting line, with Stuart Champion crossing the plate once on a 2-for-4 outing, to pace the Braves (11-4, 0-1 PBC) who fell for just the second time in its last five PBC openers. Newcomer Keith Whitman had his 12-game hitting skein stopped on a 0-for-4 day at the plate.
UNCP starter Justin Yow (3-1) had his personal eight-game winning streak snapped after allowing 10 hits and four earned runs in eight innings of work from the hill. David Walters (5-0) picked up the victory for FMU, striking out seven and scattering three hits over seven innings of work. Senior southpaw Zach Farry grabbed his sixth save of the season despite allowing three hits and one earned run over the last two innings of the contest.
A pitching duel in every sense of the phrase through the first two innings, Francis Marion used a Phelps' RBI single to scratch the scoreboard in the third and take an early lead, but the Braves got a two-run double from Coker in the fifth to post its first advantage in the game.
Graves launched a two-run home run over the wall in leftfield to give the lead back to the visitors in the sixth, with Barkdoll’s solo job cushioning the lead out to a pair of runs heading into the eighth.
UNCP put a pair of runners into scoring position with its first three at-bats in the eighth, but Farry slammed the door on the rally by inducing Jason Morales into a fly out to second base and Whitman into an inning-ending line out to shortstop.
UNCP rallied again in the ninth, putting two more runners into scoring position with just one out, but managed to plate just one run on Coker’s one-out sacrifice fly to rightfield. Tom Porricelli looked to have reached on an infield single with the next at-bat in the inning, but a close play at first base went the visitors’ way to end the ballgame.
In the second game, UNCP rallied for three runs in the eighth and ninth frames to force extra innings, but Phelps' two-run double extended his hitting streak to 23 games and gave FMU the sweep.
Shuey highlighted a perfect 2-for-2 night at the plate with a two-run home run for Francis Marion (13-2, 2-0), which also got multi-hit performances from both Greene (2-for-5) and Barkdoll (3-for-5). Phelps was 0-for-3 with sacrifice hit heading into his last at-bat.
Jon-Jon Mirra, Keith Whitman and Edmond Locklear each turned in multi-hit nights at the plate for UNCP (11-5, 0-2 PBC) who lost for the third-straight time in its series with the Patriots. Jason Morales plated a pair of runs on a 1-for-4 outing, with Locklear homering for the first time this season to earmark his 2-for-4 hitting line.
The pitchers of record turned out to fall on both teams’ closers, with Ryan Kirkman (1-2) saddling the tough-luck loss for the Braves despite striking out three and allowing just one hit in two innings of work. Farry, who entered the game with six saves on the season, picked up his first win after striking out three and not allowing a hit in 2-1/3 innings from the mound.
Francis Marion took a short-lived lead in the second inning on a sac fly from Camron Asbill, but the Braves answered in the bottom of the third on a leadoff homer from Coker. The Patriots grabbed the lead back on Shuey’s RBI single in the fifth, but UNCP answered again, this time knotting the score back up when Morales drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
The Patriots used a pair of hits, including a Shuey two-run home run, as well as a costly error on a dropped foul ball by the Braves, to take a 5-2 lead into the eighth, but UNCP tied the score back up again on Locklear’s solo shot in the eighth inning, as well as RBI knocks from Ryan Gathman and Morales in the ninth.
The Patriots will look for the series sweep on Sunday when the two teams close out the weekend in a 1 p.m. tilt at Sammy Cox Field.
