COLUMBIA, S.C. - Six Sand Sharks combined for a no-hitter in Wednesday's 11-7 victory at CIU Baseball Field, as the USCB baseball pitching corps also totaled 13 strikeouts in the nine-inning, four-run win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
USCB pitching corps - nine innings, no hits, 13 strikeouts, 204 pitches
Eamonn Collins - 1.1 innings, no runs, no hits, no walks, four strikeouts, save
Leandy Castro - 3-for-5, double, two singles, two RBIs, two runs
Clint Sellers - 2-for-2, two doubles, two RBIs, two walks, two runs
Alexander Humphrey - 2-for-5, double, single, one RBI, one run
Brian Meyer - 1-for-3, solo home run, two runs, two walks
Hagan Alberson - 2-for-4, two-run home run, single
Tavaris Terrell - 2-for-5, two singles
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Sand Shark offense opened the game quickly with a pair of runs in the first inning. USCB took advantage of an error to score Wesley Ambrose, and Sellers cracked a run-scoring double to put USCB up by two.
CIU tallied three unanswered runs in the bottom of the first and second innings to take its first lead of the game, 3-2.
USCB responded with a three-run third inning thanks to a two home run frame. Meyer led the inning off with a solo blast, and with two outs, Alberson smacked his first homer of the season to make it a 5-3 game.
Following a scoreless fourth inning, the Sand Sharks added insurance runs in the fifth thanks to a Ram fielding error. Jack Slavin connected with a groundball to short with the bases loaded, but the Ram botched the play to let USCB advance the lead to 7-3.
The Rams cut into the deficit, 7-4, in the bottom of the sixth inning via a one-out sacrifice fly from Joshua Hernandez.
However in the next inning, the Sand Shark offense erupted for another three-run frame to push the lead to six, 10-4. Castro, Humphrey and Sellers connected with back-to-back-to-back doubles to start the frame, and following a Alberson single, Slavin connected with a sacrifice fly to make it a six-run game.
The Sand Sharks added one more run in the top of the eighth, but CIU made it a close game in the home-half of the inning, as the Rams tallied three runs to make it an 11-7 contest. Collins came in relief with two outs, and he struck out Alex Miller to leave a pair of Rams on base.
Collins didn't mess around in the bottom of the ninth, as he worked a 1-2-3 inning en route to earning his second save of the year. It also sealed the win for USCB, which pushed the Sand Sharks over .500 for the first time this year.
TEAM RECORD UPDATES
USCB - 4-3 overall
CIU - 0-4 overall
WHAT'S NEXT?
USCB will commence league play on Friday, Feb. 12, as the Sand Sharks travel to Florida Memorial for a three-game series. First pitch of Friday's doubleheader is set for noon, and the series finale on Feb. 13 is also scheduled for noon.
