Related: No. 7 Columbus State Clinches Weekend Series With Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke baseball team scored 10 times on the shoulders of its 34th double-digit hit attack of the season, and used a wild pitch with two outs in the ninth inning to stun seventh-ranked Columbus State, 10-9, and snap the Cougars' 17-game win streak on Sunday afternoon at Burger King Stadium.
The setback officially snapped the lid on the 2016 season for the Braves (27-22, 13-17 PBC) who recorded their 12th-straight winning season under head coach Paul O'Neil. It was the first loss since March 26 for the Cougars (39-11, 23-7) who wrapped up the league's regular season title with a win over the Braves on Saturday.
Stibel Aleman Saba hit a game-tying home run in the eighth and scored twice on a 4-for-5 day to pace UNCP, who also got three hits from Christian Snider (3-for-5, 2 RBI). Drew Beaver registered his ninth homer of the season to highlight a 1-for-3 day at the plate. Roberto Rivera (2-for-5, 2B) and Nick Salisbury (2-for-5, 2B) both turned in a pair of hits for the Black & Gold as well.
Blake Edwards (2-for-4) hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning to log the only extra-base hit of the game for Columbus State. Jackson Oliver (2-for-5, 2 R) and Christian Miller (2-for-4, RBI) both logged a pair of hits for the hosts as well.
Trace Hagler (3-1) struck out a pair of Cougars and allowed two hits in two scoreless innings of relief to grab the win for the Braves. Freshman Colton Ingram (2-2) surrendered just one hit in one inning of relief, but took the tough-luck loss despite reliever Robert Hayes actually delivering the game's decisive wild pitch.
UNCP scored four times in the fourth, including a 3-run dinger by Beaver, to stake claim to a commanding 7-2 advantage, but Columbus State matched the run total in the bottom of the frame to cut its deficit back to a single run, and then got a 3-run bomb from Edwards to storm ahead 9-7 heading to the seventh.
Salisbury hit a one-out double in the eighth to set the table for Aleman Saba, who crushed a first-pitch offering from Kyle Peals over the fence in right field to knot the game back up.
Hayden Buffkin hit a one-out double in the ninth to get something going for the Black & Gold who eventually put two runners in scoring position with two outs thanks to an effective groundout from Wiley Jackson, as well as a bean ball and an ensuing stolen base by Austin Hill. The mistake pitch by Hayes came on a 2-and-2 count to Rivera.
Hagler needed just six pitches to record the first two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Tyler Fichter made things interesting thanks to a bloop single that found a hole in front of Rivera in centerfield. The momentum for the hosts would be short-lived, however, as Hagler got leadoff hitter Jackson Oliver on a routine grounder to Salisbury at second base.
