PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke baseball team tacked up a pair of runs in each of the second and fourth innings to help support a phenomenal outing from right-hander Matt Fuhr and the Braves clinched the weekend series with Saint Rose on a 5-0 win over the Golden Knights in the front end of a Saturday doubleheader at Sammy Cox Field.
 
Freshman River Ryan drove in a pair of runs to highlight a 2-for-3 day at the plate for the Braves (8-1), while Hayden Buffkin doubled on a 2-for-4 hitting line. Lucas Ledford (1-for-1) and Seth Hartings both tallied doubles for the Black & Gold as well.
 
Joe DeLuca (1-for-3), Andrew Jon Pedone (1-for-2) and Anthony Scheller (1-for-3) all recorded singles for Saint Rose (0-2).
 
Fuhr (2-0) struck out nine and yielded just a pair of hits in six strong innings of work for the hosts, while Hank Simpson struck out four in three innings of relief work to notch his first save of the season. Michael Pastore (0-1) allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits in 3-1/3 innings from the hill to take the loss for the visitors.
 
Luke Jackson gave the Braves the lead for good on a one-out RBI triple in the second, but the hosts stretched their lead out to 4-0 on a two-run single by Ryan in the fourth.
 
Fuhr faced four or less batters in five of the six frames he worked, including retiring the sides in order in the third and fourth innings. Simpson retired nine of the 10 batters he faced to give UNCP its third combined shutout of the campaign.