Related: Baseball Holds Off Anderson In Season Opener

ANDERSON, S.C. – The 16th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team rallied for three runs in its last at-bat to provide more than enough run support for newcomer Garrett Hickman, and the Braves helped skipper Paul O'Neil notch career victory No. 500 with a 3-0 blanking of Anderson in the back end of a series-opening doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

The victory gave the Braves (2-0) their 13th-straight victory in the series with Anderson (0-2) who will look to salvage the weekend set in Sunday's series finale in upstate South Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

O'Neil, who grabbed his 400th victory at UNCP with a 7-4 victory at North Georgia on March 29, 2013, is one of just 41 coaches to collect 500 or more victories at the NCAA Division II level.

UNCP got base hits from five different players, including Ben Schmucker who doubled in a run and scored once to highlight a 1-for-2 plate showing. Dalton Knight and Brett Huffman (RBI) finished with 1-for-2 hitting lines as well. Garrett Bernardo turned in a 2-for-3 night to pace the Trojans.

Hickman (1-0), a junior college transfer, struck out five, walked one and scattered four hits over a complete game to grab a win in his Pembroke debut, while Thomas Goodman (0-1) took the tough-luck loss for Anderson after allowing three hits and two earned runs in six innings from the bump. He also struck out three.

A scoreless game through six innings, Schmucker broke the standstill on a RBI double down the right field line with no outs and runners at the corners in the seventh, before Brett Huffman (Sac Fly) and Victor Zecca (double) followed with run-scoring knocks as well. Hickman, who retired the sides in order in the second, third and sixth innings, yielded a one-out walk to Josh Hickman in the bottom of the inning, but sat down two of the next three batters he faced to slam the door.