After dropping the first two games of the series on the same day in a doubleheader on Saturday, the UNCP baseball team bounced back in major way and avoided getting swept by the Francis Marion Patriots by pummeling their Peach Belt Conference foes into submission in 23-10 victory in the final game of the weekend series on Sunday at Sammy Cox Field.
“We played a little bit better today than we did yesterday. That’s the difference and they didn’t play very well today, and we capitalized on it,” said Head Coach Paul O’Neil.
The Braves racked up a whopping 19 hits on the day, set a single-game record for runs with 23 and had six innings in which they scored three or more runs. The result brought an end to a rough three-game losing streak for the Black and Gold who are now three games into a nine-game homestand.
“Today things were clicking for us. Hopefully, things will continue to click for us throughout this week and we can gain some momentum going into North Georgia this weekend,” said O’Neil.
Just like in the first game of the series, the Braves jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage in the first inning, but this time they would not let up and kept their foot on the gas as they scored in all but two innings on the day.
Their most productive inning came in the third when they put six runs on the board to build a 10-1 lead. They had 11 batters step up to the plate and converted seven hits and Patriots error to establish a nine-run lead. UNCP did not trail at any point on the day and capitalized on five Francis Marion errors which included a few wild pitches that allowed runners on third base to reach home plate.
Sophomore Bobby Dixon led the team’s explosive offensive efforts with a set of trios in hits and RBIs with a team-high four at-bats.
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