PEMBROKE – Visiting Shepherd used Dalton Stewart's grand slam to stake claim to a 7-1 advantage in the second inning, but the 40^th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team rallied all the way back to snag a series-clinching 10-9 victory over the Rams in a 3-hour and 55-minute marathon on Saturday at Sammy Cox Field.
 
Junior Ethan Baucom homered, drove in four runs and scored twice to highlight a 2-for-4 day at the plate for the Braves (2-0), who also got two-hit showings from both Jarratt Mobley (2-for-5, 2 R) and Connor Grainger (2-for-5). Stewart (2-for-5) and preseason all-American Brenton Doyle (1-for-4) both homered to pace the Rams (0-2).
 
The Black & Gold utilized the services of five pitchers, but it was sophomore Dylan Radford (1-0) who picked up his first career victory after striking out five in two solid innings of relief work. Newcomer Brandon Winstead struck out three in a scoreless ninth to notch a save in his UNCP debut. Reliever Steve Bowley (0-1) surrendered three earned runs in 2-1/3 innings on the hill to take the loss for Shepherd.
 
After surrendering the lead on a costly error in the bottom of the first, the Rams sent 10 batters to the plate amid a 6-run second inning that was capped on Stewart's grand slam to center field. The Braves chipped into their deficit on a one-out RBI single by all-American Luke Jackson  in the fourth, and then struck for five runs in the fifth to knot the score back up.
 
Shepherd grabbed a 9-7 advantage in the seventh thanks to consecutive RBI doubles from Giovanni Torres and Nick Atkinson, but the Braves got a 3-run homer from Baucom with two outs in the seventh to take the lead for good.