FORT MYERS, Fla. — The University of South Carolina Beaufort baseball team knocked top-seeded Northwood out of the Sun Conference Tournament on Saturday, outlasting the Seahawks for a 10-8 victory in 13 innings at City of Palms Park.
The Sand Sharks (33-20) played their second extra-inning contest in two days after opening the tournament with a 2-1 loss in 10 innings versus No. 2 seed Embry-Riddle. USCB will face No. 4 seed Southeastern at 3 p.m. Sunday in another elimination game.
John Cloyd went 2-for-4 with three walks and three RBIs and Josh Reinhart was 4-for-7 with two runs and two RBIs to lead USCB at the plate. Nick Payne was 2-for-6 with two RBIs, including a go-ahead RBI double in the 13th inning.
Blake Drew (8-4) earned the win in relief, pitching six innings and allowing three runs and six hits.
The Sand Sharks scored in four straight innings to build a 6-2 lead before Northwood began chipping away. The Seahawks cut the lead to 6-5, but USCB answered with two runs in the eighth to take an 8-5 advantage to the ninth.
Northwood rallied for three in the bottom of the frame to force extra innings, and that's where it stood until the 13th, when Payne doubled home Reinhart and Cloyd added an RBI single.
Ashly Morris went 2-for-5 with an RBI for USCB, giving him 57 RBIs on the season to match Brandon Collins' single-season school record from 2010. Morris now holds USCB's single-season marks for hits (87), runs (60), total bases (138), home runs (8) and RBIs (57).
If USCB wins Sunday, the Sand Sharks will play again at 11 a.m. Monday.