PEMBROKE – The 11^th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team erupted for eight runs on seven hits in the first three innings alone to more than support Matt Fuhr's third-straight quality start and the Braves evened up their weekend series with Lake Erie on the strength of a 14-3 rout of the Storm on Saturday evening at Sammy Cox Field.
 
River Ryan drove in a pair of runs and scored three times on a 3-for-4 night at the plate for the Braves (11-2) who got multi-hit showings from five other players as well, including Ethan Baucom who doubled twice and scored once on a 2-for-5 plate performance.
 
Rees Rua drove in a run on a 2-for-3 night for the Storm (4-2), while Samuel Browning (1-for-3) hit a two-run homer in the first.
 
Fuhr (3-0) struck out a career-best 10 batters and picked up his third-straight victory after scattering six hits and a trio of earned runs over six quality innings from the hill. Newcomer Dale Masterson struck out five over three scoreless innings of relief to register his first save with the Black & Gold. Aaron Kucia (0-1) yielded eight runs (six earned) on seven hits in three innings of work to take the loss for the visitors.
 
Browning gave Lake Erie a 2-0 lead with a shot to left field in the top half of the first, but the Braves took the lead for good with three scores of their own in the home half of the frame. The Storm knotted the score back up on Rua's one-out RBI single in the second, but UNCP countered with 11 unanswered runs to fuel the rout.
 
The squads will engage in the series rubber game on Sunday at Sammy Cox Field. First pitch is scheduled for noon.