CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Freshman
Jordan Adcox racked up six hits, eight RBIs and five runs scored and senior
Jamie Johnson ripped a pair of home runs to fuel the UNC Pembroke softball team's 16-1, 12-4 twinbill sweep of host Johnson C. Smith on Wednesday afternoon at Biddleville Park in Charlotte.
Wednesday's victories snapped a four-game losing skid for the Braves (18-12), who logged double-digit hits in both games of a doubleheader for the fourth time this season and now have six run-rule wins in 2018. Playing for the first time in 10 days, Johnson C. Smith (5-11) fell to 2-4 at home and has now been run ruled in eight of its 11 setbacks.
In the opener, Adcox launched the first two home runs of her collegiate career in a 3-for-4 performance. She drove in a career-high four runs and scored three more.
Jamie Johnson added two hits in two at-bats, drove in three runs and scored twice. The senior sent her fourth home run of the season to left center in the first inning.
UNCP scored 10 runs in the first two innings, four in the first and six in the second, before tacking on six more in the top of the fourth. Johnson and Adcox hit back-to-back long balls in the first inning. Adcox logged home run number two in the fourth on a two-run shot to left.
Haleigh Epperson doubled and scored in the first inning and the Braves stole five bases in the run-rule, five-inning victory.
Yelton (8-3) went the distance in the circle to log her fifth complete game of the season. The freshman allowed just one run on two hits and struck out five Golden Bulls.
Six different Braves notched at least two hits in game two, including three each from Epperson, Adcox and
Kaitlynn Norton. Adcox drove in four runs for the second-straight game and Epperson and Johnson each connected on a long ball in the victory.
The Black & Gold scored three times in the first inning, including Epperson's two-run shot to left center. It's the senior's first home run of the season and came on the day she turned 22. Johnson led off the top of third with a triple and trotted home on an Adcox single one batter later. After the hosts knotted the game at 4-4 with a grand slam in the bottom of the third, UNCP scored eight runs on seven hits in the final two innings to cap off the five-inning triumph.
Sophomore
Raygan Larson (4-4) registered her third complete game of the season in the circle in just her fifth start. She allowed five hits and struck out five batters on 81 pitches.
The Braves jump back into Peach Belt Conference (PBC) play on Thursday with a trip down I-95 to Francis Marion. The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for 5 p.m. at the FMU Softball Stadium in Florence, South Carolina. The Patriots (16-18, 2-8 PBC) had won three-straight games before a 6-5 setback to Flagler on Sunday. FMU leads the all-time series with the Braves by a 43-16 margin, including a 26-3 edge in Florence.