Related: Baseball Powers Past Shepherd In Season Opener

PEMBROKE – Defending Mountain East Conference champion Shepherd lit up the scoreboard for eight runs in the first four innings to help support a solid eight innings of work from southpaw John Bentley as the Rams evened up their weekend series with the UNC Pembroke baseball team on a 9-3 victory over the Braves on Saturday.
 
Nick Debo singled three times and scored once for the Braves (1-1) who also got a 3-for-4 hitting line from fellow senior Drew Beaver. Alex Simpson (1-for-3) singled and drove in a run in his first collegiate at-bat for the hosts as well.
 
Preseason all-American Daniel Heleine, Ron Farley and Tyler Thomas all hit home runs for the Rams (1-1), while preseason all-American J.J. Sarty and Mike Brown both turned in 2-for-5 days at the plate.
 
Newcomer Kyle Boraski (0-1) yielded six runs (three earned) on four hits and a pair of walks in just two innings of work to saddle the loss for UNCP. Bentley (1-0), an all-conference selection for the Rams last season, threw 120 pitches over eight innings from the hill and picked up the win after allowing three runs and nine hits. He also struck out seven.
 
Home runs by Farley and Heleine in the opening frame helped Shepherd stake claim to a quick 5-0 lead, but the Rams had pushed their lead out to 9-1 by the end of the fourth. UNCP cut into its deficit on run-scoring at bats by Beaver (infield single) and Stibel Aleman Saba (groundout) in the fifth, but that would be all that the hosts could muster.
 
Bentley faced four or less batters in four different frames before giving way to reliever Ryan Pansch in the ninth. Bentley registered first-pitch strikes on 30 of the 36 batters he faced in the outing.
 
The squads will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.