Related: Baseball Evens Series At Young Harris
YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke baseball team scored the game's first eight runs and rode the coattails of senior right-hander Logan Cook into the eighth inning as the Braves captured the weekend series at Young Harris with a 12-5 win over the Mountain Lions on Saturday evening at Zell B. Miller Field.
Nick Debo hit a pair of home runs, stole two bases, drove in four runs and scored three times on a 4-for-5 hitting line to pace the Braves (22-9, 9-6 PBC) who picked up their third league series victory of the season with the result. Nolan Pierce doubled, tripled and walked twice on a 2-for-3 performance, while Christian Snider hit a home run to highlight a 2-for-5 night at the plate.
Young Harris (10-19, 5-13) got base hits from seven different players, including Nick Sexton who doubled on a 2-for-5 hitting line. Zach Beggs hit his team-leading seventh home run of the campaign for the Mountain Lions as well.
Cook (4-3) sat down the first 11 batters he faced and logged his second-straight victory by striking out nine and allowing just seven hits and one earned run over seven solid innings from the mound. Cole Amtmann (0-1) surrendered five earned runs on five hits and a trio of walks in his first appearance of the season and took the loss for the hosts.
A RBI double by Drew Beaver (1-for-5) in the top of the first gave the Braves the lead for good, but Debo added a two-run homer in the next at-bat for good measure. A sac fly off the bat of Roberto Rivera (1-for-4, 2 RBI) in the fifth would help the visitors stake claim to an 8-0 advantage.
Zach Odom hit a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the fifth to put three runs on the board for Young Harris, and the Mountain Lions climbed to within four runs on a pair of RBI knocks in the seventh that made it a 9-5 game, but the Black & Gold tacked up three insurance runs in the ninth to put to any kind of comeback hopes for Young Harris to rest.
The Braves will close out a four-game road trip on Wednesday when they make the short trip up U.S. 74 to battle region nemesis Wingate (19-13) in a 6 p.m. contest at Ron Christopher Stadium.
