LAURINBURG – The sixth-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team fueled a 17-hit attack with four home runs and scored 16 times behind a seven-armed pitching staff en route to an NAIA mercy-rule shortened 16-4 win over St. Andrews on Wednesday afternoon at Clark Field.

Ben Schmucker doubled, homered twice, drove in six runs and scored four times on a perfect 5-for-5 day at the plate for the Braves (14-4) who registered their 13th-straight victory in the series with the Knights (8-10). Collins Cuthrell hit a 3-run homer in the third to highlight a 3-for-5 outing, while Dalton Knight crossed the plate four times on a 3-for-4 hitting line. Zade Denton (1-for-5) hit a home run for UNCP as well.

Starter Connor Pratt (2-0) allowed just two hits in two innings of work to pick up the win for the visitors in a pre-determined pitching rotation, while Andy Sullivan and Wes Helsabeck each turned in a hitless inning of relief. Brett Young (0-1) took the loss for St. Andrews after allowing four earned runs on a pair of hits and three walks in two innings from the mound.

UNCP scratched the scoreboard first and took the lead for good on Schmucker's RBI single in the second, but tacked up four runs in each of the third and fourth innings to put the game in hand. The Black & Gold led 13-2 after the top half of the sixth inning, but the Knights hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to take the NAIA mercy rule (10 runs after at least seven innings) out of play.

Schmucker's 3-run homer in the eighth – his second four-bagger of the game – would put the mercy rule back into effect.

The Braves will close out a four-game road trip this weekend when they head to St. Augustine, Fla., to take on third-ranked Flagler (13-2, 7-1 PBC) in a three-game series at Drysdale Field. The squads will open the weekend with a 1 p.m. twinbill on Saturday before closing out the series with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday.