JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The USCB baseball team opened the 2016 season on the road Saturday, splitting a doubleheader at Trinity Baptist College. 

Jamie Strock and Forrest Kirsch combined to shut down the Eagles in a 4-1 Sand Shark victory in the opener before Trinity Baptist bounced back with a 2-0 win in the finale. 

Strock (1-0) allowed one run on five hits and a walk over 4 1/3 innings to earn the win in Game 1. Kirsch, in his USCB debut, came on with a runner in scoring position and one out in the fifth and induced an inning-ending double play before working two more perfect innings to nail down the save.

The Sand Sharks tied it at 1 when Justin Kortessis scored on a passed ball in the fourth, and Max Balter single-handedly gave USCB the lead an inning later, leading off the fifth with a single before stealing second, third and home. 

Balter was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the opener. USCB pushed across two insurance runs in the sixth before Kirsch closed it out. 

USCB's pitching staff turned in another strong effort in the second game, as Julio De Pena (0-1) struck out four and allowed two runs – one earned – and six hits over five frames and Zach Massengale worked a perfect sixth. 

The Sand Sharks could never mount a rally, though, managing only two hits – back-to-back singles by Kortessis and Dylan Yankle with two outs in the fourth. 

USCB is back in action Friday and Saturday, playing a three-game series at Truett-McConnell in Cleveland, Ga.