PEMBROKE – Hayden Buffkin belted a 3-run home run in the first inning and starter Jesse Stinnett sat down 12 of the first 13 batters he faced as the 11^th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team picked up a big region victory with a 5-2 win over 22^nd-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday at Sammy Cox Field.
 
It was the ninth-straight triumph for the Braves (10-1) who improved to 5-1 all-time against the Bears with their fifth consecutive series victory. The setback snapped a two-game win streak for Lenoir-Rhyne (11-2) who dropped its first road game of the season as well.
 
Buffkin highlighted a 1-for-4 day at the plate for the hosts with his team-leading fourth home run of the season, while Nolan Pierce (1-for-3) and Nick Debo (1-for-3, 2B) each drove in a run as well. Marcus Shoemaker (1-for-4) doubled and scored to lead the visitors.
 
Stinnett (2-0) struck out seven and surrendered just four hits and two runs (one earned) over 5-1/3 innings of work to pick up the victory for the Black & Gold, while Kyle Ramsey struck out one in a scoreless ninth to register his first save of the season. Hank Simpson inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out in the sixth, but retired the next two batters in order before pitching hitless seventh and eighth frames.
 
Freshman John Grigg (2-1) saddled the loss for the Bears after allowing five earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks in five innings from the hill. He also struck out four.
 
The Braves tacked up just one hit in the first four innings, but Buffkin's homer in the first would inevitably be all that the good guys needed. The Braves punched in a pair of insurance runs in the sixth, before Lenoir-Rhyne pushed across a pair of scores in the sixth to cap the scoring.
 
UNCP will continue a 10-game home stand this weekend when it bunkers down to take on Lake Erie (3-1) in Pembroke. The squads will open up the weekend with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, before closing out the series with a noon first pitch on Sunday.