No. 16 Pacers Hold on To Sweep Bearcats
AIKEN, S.C. –The 16th-ranked USC Aiken baseball team was able to sweep their weekend series with the visiting Lander Bearcats on Sunday with a 12-10 victory.
Lander falls to 13-8 overall and 0-6 in the Peach Belt while USC Aiken improves to 16-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play. USC Aiken has now won 13 of its last 14 games.
Slugger Travis Howard (Bonneau, S.C./USC Salkehatchie) just missed out on earning the cycle en route to leading USC Aiken at the plate in the victory. He was an impressive 4-for-4 with one double, one home run, four RBIs and three runs of his own.
Alex Franklin (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) put the Pacers on the board first in bottom of the first inning when he crossed the plate off Howard’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Aaron Fludd would tie the game for Lander at one apiece when he batted in Pete Hernandez with a shot to the short stop in the top of the second inning.
In the bottom of the second inning designated hitter Tripp Warrick (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) reached base off a smoker to the second baseman who mishandled the ball to score Gary Asbill (Batesburg, S.C./Batesburg-Leesville) across the dish to put the Pacers back on top 2-1.
Ryan McNulty evened the score once again for Lander at 2-2 in the top of the third inning off a fielder’s choice to the second baseman to score Pete Hernandez.
The senior slugger Howard put the pacers back in front in the bottom of the inning when he laced a ball well over the right-center wall for his fourth home run of the year, and second of the series.
Designated hitter Warrick then batted in Nick Aranas (Lexington, S.C./Lexington) with a well-placed strike to right field to extend the Pacers’ lead to two at 4-2.
Jordan Owens gave Lander its first lead of the game in the top of the fourth inning when he ripped a ball over the right-center wall for his fifth home run of the year to score Bud Lanier and Robert Skinner as well as himself to put Lander up 5-4.
Bill Rice (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester County) evened the score again in the bottom of the inning at 5-5 when he sent a deep double to the wall in right-center to score David Vitko (Columbiana, Ohio/Youngstown State).
Howard then continued to show his prowess at the plate when he put USC Aiken back on top at 6-5. He got his third RBI of the game when he batted in Rice with a single to right field.
Bud Lanier helped even the score once more in the top of the fifth inning when he sent a shot to shortstop Noah Wethington (Rock Island, Ill./Blackhawk) to score McNulty.
Bud Lanier followed up by sending a sacrifice fly to center field to score Joe Tebaldi and put the Bearcats back up 7-6.
Things continued in Lander’s favor in the top of the sixth inning as Aaron Fludd batted in McNulty and Tebaldi stretching the lead to three at 9-6 with a shot to shallow right field.
The Pacers refused to go quietly into the night in the bottom of the sixth inning. Aranas brought the game to within one when he smacked a ball up the left foul line to score Vitko and Howard.
Howard later tied things up for the Pacers in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double up the left field foul line to score Franklin from second and advance Rice to third.
Aranas then stepped up once more for the Pacers with a huge three-run jack out of the park over the right-center wall to put USC Aiken back up 12-9.
Alan Abreu came out in the top of the ninth inning and sent a home run of his own out of the park to bring the Bearcats within two at 12-10. However the Bearcats were unable to pull any closer over the remaining moments of the game as USC Aiken held on to claim the victory.
Ben Runyon suffered the loss for Lander on the mound in just one inning of work. He falls to 1-1 on the 2010 campaign.
Tyler Stephan (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) earned his second win of the season while Chad Benefield (Dallas, Ga./Southern Union CC) earned his third save of the 2010 season. Stephan fanned five batters and gave up just two runs to improve to 2-1
USC Aiken will continue their nine-game home stint within the friendly confines of Roberto Hernandez Stadium with a pair of games against the Hawks of Chowan on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mar. 16 and 17. Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
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