Related: Stinnett, Baseball Overpower Flagler In Series Opener
PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke baseball team registered its third-straight double-digit hit of the week and tacked up a trio of 3-run innings on the way to a series-clinching 10-5 victory over Flagler on Saturday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field.
Stibel Aleman Saba (1-for-2, 4 RBI) and Hayden Buffkin (1-for-4) both tallied home runs for the Braves (12-4, 3-2 PBC) who improved to 12-3 at home this season with the result. Roberto Rivera drove in a pair of runs and scored twice on a 3-for-5 outing as well.
Flagler (7-9, 2-6) got multi-hit showings from six different players, but stranded 12 on the base paths, including five in scoring position. James Jean doubled twice on a 3-for-4 hitting line, while Cole Ondrejka plated a pair of runs on a 2-for-5 day at the plate.
Lane Johnson (2-1) picked up his second-straight win with five effective innings from the hill in which he surrendered just three earned runs on 10 hits. Alex Britt struck out three and worked the last four outs of the contest to nab his third save of the campaign. Starter Dustin Dye (1-3) saddled the loss for the Saints after allowing six earned runs on eight hits in just 3-1/3 innings of work.
Aleman Saba clubbed Dye's 0-and-1 offering over the fence in rightfield to give the Braves a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the third, but the Saints lit up the scoreboard for three runs of their own in the fourth to knot things back up. Nick Salisbury's two-run single in the bottom of the frame would give the hosts the lead for good, however.
Flagler cut into 7-3 deficit with two runs in the sixth, but the Braves answered with three scores in the bottom of the frame on RBI knocks from Rivera and Aleman Saba, as well as an ill-timed wild pitch from Flagler reliever Kyle Schackne.
The squads will close out their weekend series with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday. UNCP righty Logan Cook (2-1, 4.05 ERA) will square off with Flagler right-hander Luke Cooksey (0-0, 4.15) or southpaw Michael Maiocco (1-1, 5.84).
