PEMBROKE – The 40
th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team pounded out 13 hits and scored 10 times behind a solid debut from senior
Nile Ball and the Braves improved to 18-1 in season openers under head coach
Paul O'Neil with a 10-4 victory over Shepherd on Friday at Sammy Cox Field.
It was the 12
th-straight opening-day victory for the Braves (1-0) who also improved to 35-13 all-time in the series with Shepherd. The Rams (0-1) have now dropped four-straight season-opening contests.
Five different players turned in multiple-hit days for the Black & Gold, including junior
Brennen Hogan who doubled and drove in a pair of runs on a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Fellow newcomer
Zach Ghelfi homered and drove in three runs on a 2-for-3 hitting line, while senior
Elijah Helton walked twice and scored three times on a 2-for-3 showing.
Ball (1-0), a Missouri transfer, struck out five and scattered three hits across six shutout innings to pick up the victory, while senior
Jordan Toney recorded a career-high seven strikeouts over the last three frames on the way to notching his first career save. Ryan Potts (0-1), a preseason all-America selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), saddled the loss for the visitors after surrendering six runs (two earned) on as many hits in three innings of work. He also struck out three.
Hogan broke a scoreless tie with a bases-loaded RBI single in the second, but the Braves would capitalize on a costly error by the Rams and score four more times in the frame to take a lead they would not relinquish. Ghelfi padded the lead out to eight runs on a two-run blast with two outs in the sixth, and UNCP added lone insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings as well.
Syeed Mahdi homered to lead off the ninth and spoil the shutout, but Shepherd scored thrice more in the final inning to provide the final.
The Braves will continue their weekend set with the Rams with a 2 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. The squads will close out the series with a 1 p.m. outing on Sunday.
