COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina Beaufort baseball team continued its hot hitting Wednesday, pounding 17 hits in an 11-3 victory at NCAA Division II Benedict. 

Senior first baseman Johnny Cole led the offensive attack, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored. Ashly Morris added three hits and an RBI, Zack Holt had three hits and Josh Reinhart had two hits and two RBIs for the Sand Sharks. 

Six USCB pitchers combined to limit the Tigers to nine hits with Willis Dobison (1-0) earning the win with two perfect innings of relief. Jason Boulais worked a scoreless frame and Josh Altman and Ethan Wright each pitched two scoreless innings. 

The Sand Sharks jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first on Cole's RBI double, Alex Bonilla's RBI single and Michael Johnson's sacrifice fly. Benedict came back with two in the first, but Cole's two-run blast in the second restored the three-run lead. 

Benedict scored once in the second to make it 5-3, but the Sand Shark bullpen shut down the Tigers the rest of the way and USCB broke it open late. Cole doubled and scored on Johnson's double in the fifth, and USCB tacked on two in the sixth on Morris' RBI ground-rule double and Cole's sacrifice fly. 

Chaztin Venezia's RBI single in the seventh made it 9-3 and Reinhart capped the scoring with a two-run single in the eighth.

USCB (21-5) travels to West Palm Beach, Fla., this weekend for a key Sun Conference series against league-leading Northwood. The 18th-ranked Sand Sharks trail the seventh-ranked Seahawks by one game in the conference standings. 

NOTES: Every USCB starter had at least one hit and five recorded multi-hit games. … USCB improved to 10-1 on the road this season. … The Sand Sharks have recorded double-digit hits in six straight games and nine of their last 10 and entered Wednesday ranked second in the NAIA in hits per game (11.64).