HARDEEVILLE — The University of South Carolina Beaufort baseball team notched two big Sun Conference victories Saturday, beating visiting Ave Maria 12-1 and 12-2 to open a three-game conference series.
Ashly Morris went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Josh Reinhart had three RBIs and scored twice and John Cloyd hit a game-ending two-run homer in the first game for USCB. Junior Delatorre (5-2) struck out seven and allowed one run on six hits in a seven-inning complete game.
The Sand Sharks (24-13, 11-9 TSC) kept the bats ringing in the second game, as Reinhart went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Morris was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run single to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Jamie Strock (5-4) earned the win, allowing two runs — one earned — on eight hits in a seven-inning complete game.
USCB took advantage of four Ave Maria errors in the opener, as defensive miscues helped the Sand Sharks take a 5-1 lead through two innings.
The Sand Sharks broke it open in the sixth, when Reinhart had a two-run single and Zack Saldivar and Morris each added RBI singles to make it 9-1. Reinhart's sacrifice fly made it 10-1 in the seventh before Cloyd came on as a pinch hitter and ripped a two-run shot down the right-field line to invoke the 10-run rule.
The Gyrenes (17-23, 5-11) scored runs in the first and second to take a 2-0 lead in the nightcap, but it was all USCB from there. Reinhart's RBI single in the second and Morris' sacrifice fly in the third tied it, and the Sand Sharks took the lead with two in the fourth on Nick Payne's RBI grounder and Cloyd's run-scoring double.
Reinhart's two-run double was the highlight of a five-run fifth, and Zack Holt added an RBI single in the sixth before Morris' two-run double down the left-field line ended it.
USCB moved into a tie with Southeastern for fourth in the Sun Conference standings, two games ahead of sixth-place Thomas and three clear of seventh-place Webber International. The top six teams qualify for the Sun Conference Tournament.
The series concludes with a single game at noon Sunday.
NOTES: Morris (156) moved into sixth place on USCB's career list for hits, passing Blake Cilwick (155) and moved into a tie for fifth in runs scored, matching Erik Armstrong (105). … Morris has 65 hits this season, tied for eighth on USCB's single-season list with Gabe Torres and 13 off the school record set by Spencer Jackson in 2011, and his 45 runs are tied with RJ Neal for fifth on the single-season list, eight off Larry Perry's school mark from 2010. … USCB has recorded 10 or more hits in 26 of 37 games this season after doing so 19 times in 43 games last season.
