By Nicholas Kolsin
The UNC Pembroke Braves Baseball team played their first games of the season against the Lake Erie Storm in a weekend series at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, NC.
Game 1
HL Smith started the Braves season off strong with a strikeout of the first batter they faced this season. Two batters later, he caught the Storm batter looking for his second strikeout. In the bottom of the inning, Isaias Villarreal walked to become the first player to reach base for the Braves this season. The Braves stranded runners on second and third.
In the bottom of the second, Will Hood led off the inning with a crack to center that went over the fence for the Braves first run and first home run of the season. Two batters later, Morgan Padgett doubled down the line but was not brought home.
Smith got out of a jam in the second by forcing a flyout with runners on first and second after hitting both batters. In the bottom of the inning two Storm errors loaded the bases for the Braves. Hood got his second RBI of the game after grounding into a double play scoring the runner from third to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.
HL Smith’s night ended after 4 innings. He allowed 1 hit, 5 strikeouts and hit 2 batters. Seth Willis came in to pitch in the 5th inning and struck out two batters looking. The Braves loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with a single, a walk and an error. Hood would get his third RBI of the night on a sac fly to make it 3-0.
In the top of the seventh, the Braves pitching finally cracked as the Storms Mitchel Szym homered down the left field line to cut the Braves lead to two. The Braves struck back in the bottom of the inning with a Luis Ramirez leadoff homer to left. Then with two outs and a man on third, Jake Bradley singled into right to bring home the Braves fifth run. After another Padgett double to get the runners to second and third, Kasen McCawley singled to right bringing two runners home extending the lead to 7-1. Next batter Blake Hinson homered down the line in right to cap off the 6 run inning to make it 9-1.
The Storm tacked on another run in the top of the eighth inning. Ramirez scored on a balk after stealing third in the bottom of the inning. Later in the inning, Bradley doubled home Hood to make the final score 11-2.
Seth Willis finished the game with 9 strikeouts in 5 innings of play, including striking out the side in the ninth.
Game 2
The Braves pitching showed up strong in the second game of the series. Johnathon Jacobs (4 IP) Rhett James (2 IP) and Kasen McCawley (3 IP) combined for 10 strikeouts only allowing 6 hits, and two earned runs.
Jacobs got in trouble early with the bases loaded and only one out. He was able to get out of this jam by striking out the last two batters. After a leadoff triple in the second, the Storm were able to take the 1-0 lead early after a fielders choice.
The Braves got runners on second and third after a walk and an error. However, they were not able to bring the runners home stranding both.
The game was a pitchers duel, with neither team able to get another run across until the bottom of the seventh inning. With a runner on first, Villarreal tripled to deep right center field scoring a run and tying the game at one.
In the top of the eighth after a single and a stolen base, the Storm took the lead off a single to center. The Braves kept the deficit to one after the Storm stranded two runners on first and second.
Down one in the bottom of the ninth, the Braves needed a run to keep the game alive. With two outs, Blake Hinson doubled down the line, and went to third on a wild pitch. After working the count to full Villarreal was not able to bring the runner home as they would lose 2-1 in game 2.