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HARDEEVILLE, S.C. — The University of South Carolina Beaufort baseball team had its five-game winning streak snapped Saturday and dropped its Sun Conference series to Ave Maria, falling 4-1 and 7-2 to the Gyrenes at Richard Gray Sports Complex.
The Sand Sharks (21-20, 11-13 TSC) won the series opener 10-6 on Friday but couldn't keep up the hot hitting in Saturday's opener and were hurt by five errors in the finale.
USCB slipped back into a tie with Thomas for sixth place in the league standings — and the final spot in the Sun Conference Tournament. The Sand Sharks have three conference games remaining, at home next weekend against ninth-place Warner, while the Night Hawks have three games apiece with league-leading Embry-Riddle and second-place St. Thomas, as well as a makeup game against eighth-place Northwood. USCB also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Thomas.
The Sand Sharks had a chance to gain on fifth-place Southeastern, but they couldn't solve Ave Maria ace Joe Bocchino in the opener. Bocchino (9-1) limited USCB to one run on five hits in a complete game, outdueling USCB junior Hunter Englehart (3-4), who gave up just two runs — one earned — on three hits in six innings.
Both runs against Englehart came in the first, and USCB cut the margin in half on Blake Cilwick's sacrifice fly in the sixth. The Gyrenes added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth, and Bocchino shut down USCB's potential rally in the eighth by picking off Cilwick at first.
The Sand Sharks struck first in the finale, taking a 1-0 lead on Ryan Walker's RBI single in the first, but they didn't score again until the eighth.
Only three of Ave Maria's seven runs were earned, as USCB aided the Gyrenes with five errors. Sophomore Junior Delatorre (4-2) took the loss, allowing four runs — two earned — on six hits over six innings.
Cilwick and Ryan Doeppel each had three hits for USCB.
The Sand Sharks travel to face Voorhees College in a non-conference doubleheader on Monday, then return home to wrap up the regular season with a three-game conference series against Warner on Friday and Saturday.
