Seventh-Ranked Pacers Fall to 19th-Ranked Bobcats
AIKEN, S.C. – The seventh-ranked USC Aiken baseball team dropped the deciding game of their conference weekend series with 19th-ranked Georgia College & State on Sunday afternoon at Roberto Hernandez Stadium.
The PBC West Division leaders were able to garner the 14-12 win over the East Division leading Pacers despite being out-hit 17-14 by USC Aiken.
Georgia College improves to 17-10 overall. They are now 9-3 in conference action during the 2010 season.
USC Aiken is now 22-10 overall and move to 11-4 in the PBC.
The Pacers entered the bottom of the third inning down 3-1 to the Bobcats, but were able to turn the corner and take the lead off six runs.
Second baseman David Vitko (Columbiana, Ohio/Youngstown) crossed the plate first in the inning for the Pacers to bring the score back to within one off Bill Rice’s strike up the right side that also moved Alex Franklin to third.
Franklin (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) tied things up a few moments later when he crossed the dish thanks to a throwing error by the Bobcats’ third baseman also allowing Nick Aranas (Lexington, S.C./Lexington) to safely reach first and moving Rice over into scoring position.
Rice (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester County) put the Pacers on top 4-3 for the second time when he scored off a passed ball a few pitches later.
Travis Howard (Bonneau, S.C./USC Salkehatchie) extended USC Aiken’s lead to two when he sent a deep ball over the left fielder’s head to the wall to score Aranas.
Tripp Warrick (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) continued the scoring drive for the Pacers by sending a double to the right field wall that sent Howard and Gary Asbill (Batesburg, S.C./Batesburg-Leesville) home to put USC Aiken up 7-3.
The Bobcats refused to roll over and relinquish to the Pacers as Jason Veyna sent a three-run home run out of the park in the top of the fourth inning to score Ward and George and pull GCSU within one.
Rice answered in the bottom of the fourth inning by ripping a two-run home run of his own well over the 400-foot marker of the center field wall to put the Pacers back out by three at 9-6.
Asbill put an exclamation mark on the scoring drive by the Pacers when he garnered his first home run of the year and second career home run over the left field wall to score Howard and extend the lead to five.
After two full innings passed scoreless, the Bobcats’ bats roared back to life in the top of the seventh and eighth innings spurred when Sean Harrell and David Pitts scored off Benton Yaun’s double off the right field wall to pull the score back within reach at 11-8.
With the Pacers up by just one in the top of the eighth inning, and the bases loaded , Pitts stepped up big for the Bobcats with a grand slam over the centerfield wall, giving the Bobcats the needed 14 runs to win the game.
USC Aiken attempted a comeback that saw Stephen Carmon (Camden, S.C./Camden) cross the dish off the bat of Howard who sent a shot past the short stop to pull the score to 14-12.
The Bobcats were able to hold onto their two-run lead in the closing moments to claim the series victory.
Ryan Tabor earned the win on the mound for Georgia College & State, while Martin Dewald earned his first save of the season. Tabor improves to 1-4 on the season.
Christian Stutts (Aiken, S.C./South Aiken) suffered the loss on the mound for the Pacers. He falls to an even 1-1 for the 2010 season.
USC Aiken will be back in action at the ‘Bert on Monday, March 28 for an evening game against the visiting Knights of St. Andrews. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
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