PEMBROKE – Visiting and sixth-ranked USC Aiken battled back from a pair of late-inning deficits, and then rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning to squeak by the UNC Pembroke baseball team, 11-9, in Friday's series opener at Sammy Cox Field.
The setback snapped a seven-game home win streak for the Braves (23-10, 9-7 PBC) who had won nine of their last 10 outings heading into the weekend. It is the third-straight win for the Pacers (27-6, 17-5) who have now won 11 of their last 12.
Stibel Aleman Saba (1-for-5, 3 RBI) and Hayden Buffkin (2-for-3, 2 RBI) both hit home runs to fuel an 11-hit night for the Black & Gold. Nick Salisbury drove in a run and scored once on a 2-for-5 night at the plate as well.
Four players combined to register six home runs for the visitors, including Zach Moon (2-for-5, 2 RBI) and Mitchell Price (4-for-5, 2B, 4 R) who both smacked a pair of long balls. Eight of USC Aiken's 18 hits on the night went for extra bases.
Kyle Ramsey (0-1), the last of four pitchers on the night for the hosts, surrendered a pair of earned runs on four hits in the 10th inning to take the loss for the Braves. Reliever Nick Jobst (4-1) struck out three and allowed just one hit in two innings from the hill to grab the win for the Pacers.
The squads traded lone runs in each of the second and third innings to set the stage for what would turn out to be an instant classic, before USC Aiken homered three times in a four-run fourth to grab a seemingly comfortable lead. A costly wild pitch in the sixth brought Price scurrying home from third to give the Pacers a 7-3 advantage, but the Black & Gold tacked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to climb to within a pair of runs, and then stormed ahead on a 3-run blast by Aleman Saba with one out in the seventh.
Price hit his second home run of the contest to tie things up in the top of the eighth, but Buffkin's sharp grounder off of the heel of reliever Connor Riley's glove with two outs in the bottom half of the inning plated Nolan Pierce with another go-ahead score. Chaz Pal's solo homer in the top of the ninth would inevitably send the game into extra innings.
Tyler Ammerman's one-out RBI single in the 10th brought home the eventual game-winning run, but the visitors would add an insurance score on Pal's two-out RBI double minutes later.
The squads will continue the weekend series with a 3 p.m. contest on Saturday at Sammy Cox Field. Right-hander Jesse Stinnett (5-1, 3.04 ERA) is scheduled to take the hill for UNCP, and he is expected to counter USC Aiken righty Nick Yobbi (4-0, 5.04).
