Nick Kolsin & Jayden Berkin,
The UNC Pembroke baseball team fell in the first game of the three-game series against the #2 team in the country in North Greenville Crusaders. The Crusaders jumped on the Braves early before the Braves attempted to comeback falling just short in the late innings with North Greenville taking the first game 9-5.
The Crusaders started the scoring early in the second inning scoring five runs. It started with a fielder’s choice from Brett Blomquist scoring a run. Two batters later, Landon Shaw ripped a double to the outfield fence scoring two more runs. The Crusaders were not done however, as the next batter Dakota Britt stepped up to the plate and rocketed a ball over the right field fence giving North Greenville a 5-0 early.
The Braves finally were able to get something going in the bottom of the third inning. A hit by pitch, single from Carlos Amezquita and a walk loaded the bases with two outs for the Braves. However, a strikeout from Michael Dolberry II stranded the bases ending the rally.
With a the bases loaded in the top of the 4th, North Greenville’s Kaleb Hall singled up the middle scoring two runs and improving their lead to 7-0. The Crusaders scored another run on the next at bat with a double down the line from Carter Dierdorf.
The Braves put three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. It started with a single up the middle from Jake Bradley giving the Braves runners on first and third with two outs. Next batter Andrew Jenner hit single up the middle that got passed the right fielder scoring both runners and advancing to second on the error. Next batter Will Hood lined a ball up the middle that got past the diving second baseman scoring Jenner and making it an 8-3 ballgame.
The Braves struck again in the bottom of the 6th inning with a moonshot to dead center field by Joey Rezek to make the game 8-4. Crusaders tacked on another run in the top of the 8th to extend the lead to 9-4.
In the Bottom of the 9th the Braves tried to get a rally started to get themselves back into the game. Back-to-back walks from Morgan Padgett and Jacob Smith with no outs got runners on 1st and 2nd with Kody O’Connor stepping up to the plate. O’Connor ripped a ball to left field scoring one run, but Smith was tagged out between second and third in a rundown. The Braves were not able to get another run across in the ninth to close out the win.
Game 2
The Braves got the bottom of the first going after a spectacular 3-run blast by Kody O’Connor, courtesy of walks from both Andrew Jenner and Joey Rezek. The Crusaders then responded with two runs of their own in the top of the 2nd, but the Braves were just starting to heat up. UNCP went on to score nine runs in the bottom of the second.
It all started with two singles coming from Will Hood and Ashton Donathon before Carlos Amezquita singled to score Hood, logging his first RBI on the night. Jenner would go on to hit a double that would score Donathon, while Rezek would hit a 2-RBI single to up the score 7-2. Rezek went on to steal his way around bases to score before Blake Hinson rounded out the dominant inning with an RBI single to make the score 9-2 after the 2nd inning.
The Braves would go on to score 4 more times before the ballgame was wrapped up, with 3 of those coming in the bottom of the 4th from Rezek, O’Connor and Jacob Smith. The last run came from an absolute hammer of a hit from O’Connor in the bottom of the 6th to put the Braves on top 13-4. The Braves would then end the game in the 7th with three quick outs to claim a huge win over the Crusaders.
Game 3
The Braves finished off the Crusaders in game three of the series holding off North Greenville late to take a 6-3 win and win the series over the Crusaders for the first time since joining the conference.
Kody O’Connor got the scoring going for the Braves with an RBI double to bring home two runs and then scored off a wild pitch to make it 3-0 Braves. The Crusaders got on the board with a homerun by David Lewis and a single by Bryce Roddey to cut the Braves lead down to 3-2.
Carlos Amezquita pushed the Braves lead out to 4-3 with a double to center to bring home a runner. Dakota Britt homered to make it a one-run game again 4-3. Amezquita hit a single up the middle in the sixth to make it 5-3 and then Blake Hinson with a sac fly in the eighth to pad the lead for the Braves 6-3. Braves closed things out for the win.
With the win the Braves improved to 20-6 on the season and 7-5 in the Conference. They travel to USC Beaufort on Tuesday.