PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke baseball team pounded out 24 hits and scored 21 times behind a four-armed pitching staff and the Braves clinched their weekend series against Pitt-Johnstown with a 21-7 victory over the Mountain Cats in the front end of a series-closing doubleheader on Saturday at Sammy Cox Field.

Collins Cuthrell doubled, homered and scored five times on a 4-for-5 outing to pace the Braves (6-0) who also got multi-hit showings from six other players. Chad Whitehead and Dalton Knight both turned in 3-for-6 showings, while Zade Denton finished his day 3-for-5 at the plate. Christian Snider hit a 2-run homer in the eighth and finished with a 2-for-2 plate performance.

Nate Negri (1-for-4) hit a grand slam in the ninth for Pitt-Johnstown, while Sean Sleigh doubled to highlight a 3-for-5 showing.

Alex Britt (1-0) struck out four in 3-1/3 innings of relief to grab the win for the Braves. Starter Ryan Socol (0-1) took the loss for the visitors after yielding nine earned runs on nine hits and a pair of walks in just three innings of work.

UNCP led 9-0 by the end of the third inning before Pitt-Johnstown cut into its deficit with a trio of runs in the top of the fourth. The Braves scraped together a run in the fifth, before erupting for three or more runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.