WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The USCB baseball team split a doubleheader at No. 7 Keiser on Friday to open its final three-game Sun Conference series of the season.
The Sand Sharks rallied to win the opener 7-5 before falling 17-10 in a slugfest in the nightcap.
GAME 1 – USCB 7, KU 5
Bobby Wenthe's three-run blast in the seventh inning gave the Sand Sharks their first lead of the game after trailing 3-0, and USCB held on to take the opener.
Keivan Berges hit solo home runs in the first and third innings, and a wild pitch brought in a run to give the Seahawks a 3-0 lead after four.
Justin Kortessis put USCB on the board with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Keiser's Jack Curtis answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the frame to make it 4-1. Another wild pitch brought the Sand Sharks within two, and Wenthe's 12th home run of the season made it 5-4.
Nick Payne's RBI double and Wade Arduini's squeeze bunt brought home a pair of insurance runs in the ninth for USCB.
Arduini earned the win with seven strong innings, striking out nine and allowing four runs and seven hits, and Zac Burke gave up one run and one hit over two innings for the save.
Bojangles' Player of the Game: Nick Payne (4-for-5, 2B, RBI)
GAME 2 – KU 17, USCB 10
Alex Murphy hit a home run and Brandon Joyce blasted a grand slam, to help keep the Sand Sharks in the second game, but USCB's bats couldn't keep pace.
The Sand Sharks grabbed an early lead with two runs in the first, scoring on a balk and Payne's RBI double, but Keiser scored four runs in the third. Murphy led off the fourth with a homer, and the tying run scored on another balk, but a Berges sacrifice fly put the Seahawks back on top in the bottom of the fourth, and they plated five runs in the fifth to break it open.
Joyce's grand slam brought USCB within 10-8 in the sixth, but Keiser again answered with four of its own in the bottom of the inning, including back-to-back homers by Tivon Faneyte and CJ Fitzpatrick.
Murphy added a two-run single in the eighth to finish 2-for-5 with three RBIs, and Joyce was 4-for-6 with two runs and four RBIs.
Bojangles' Player of the Game: Brandon Joyce (4-for-6, HR, 4 RBIs)
FIN FACTS
The Sand Sharks have now hit a school-record 30 home runs this season, surpassing the mark of 29 in 2009. … Wenthe's 12 home runs are a single-season school mark and put him one shy of tying Erik Armstrong (13) for the career record. … Sophomore JoJo Markle picked up his 24th stolen base, tying Matt Kianka's single-season school record set last season. … Joyce has 131 career RBIs, two behind R.J. Neal (133) for the most all-time at USCB.
UP NEXT
The series concludes with a single game at noon Saturday.
