Hardeeville, SC-- The Sand Shark baseball team split the opening double-header with Milligan College (Tenn.) this evening, winning game one 8-7 and dropping game two in an extra frame 5-6.
Game One Notes:
- Milligan took the early lead, 3-0 in the top of the second, with Hall, Laboy and Jones scoring.
- With two outs in the bottom of the second, USCB responded with two runs of their own to bring the score to 3-2.
- Griffin Yeager earned a walk, Robbie McKinney knocked an RBI double to right center, scoring Nick DelBianco (courtesy runner for Yeager).
- Chris Vasquez then singled to shortstop to score McKinney.
- The Sand Sharks tied the game in the bottom of the third when Steven Mojica scored off a Bobby Wenthe RBI double.
- USCB seized the lead when Wenthe was knocked in by Noah Matthews doubled. Matthews scored later on a passed ball.
- USCB added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth off a 2-RBI single from Wenthe scored Mojica and Tavaris Terrell.
- Milligan's Dutton scored in the fifth inning to pull the score to 7-4.
- USCB scored what would prove to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth when McKinney was able to find his way across home plate after a series of miscues, all started by a Mojica single to right field.
- Milligan made it close in the top of the seventh, plating three more runs, but the rally fell short.
- On the bump, Nick Constan picked up the win, going 4 innings, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits. Ryan Reynolds collected the save, going 3 innings with 1 strikeout.
Game Two Notes:
- In the second game it was USCB's turn to jump out to the early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first.
- Wenthe, DelBianco, and Jay Newell all came across home to put the Sand Sharks up 3-0 after one.
- Dutton scored his second run of the day, giving Milligan some life in the top of the third.
- Milligan scored another in the fourth to put the pressure on USCB.
- Matthews earned a walk in the fifth inning before Terrell found an RBI-double, scoring Matthews.
- USCB added another run in the sixth when DelBianco put down a sacrifice bunt to bring in Cole Hamilton, who doubled to left earlier and advanced to third on a Mojica single to right.
- The seventh belonged to the Buffs of Milligan, who found three runs to tie the score and force the extra inning after a big defensive stop in the bottom half of the seventh.
- A defensive misstep led to an infield single for Harper, who eventually found his way home for the winning run.
Top Sand Sharks:
The Sand Sharks will host Milligan for the third game of the series tomorrow at 12:00 PM. Live stats and video will be available at
www.uscbathletics.com/live.
