HARTSVILLE, S.C. — The Coker University baseball team swept a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader over visiting Tusculum University Saturday afternoon at Tom J. New Field.
The Cobras (15-32, 12-22 SAC) won the opener 14-6 and completed the weekend sweep with a 14-4 victory in the regular-season finale. Coker claims the eighth and final spot for next week’s SAC Tournament. The Pioneers (16-33, 10-23 SAC) end their season.
Game 1: Coker 14, Tusculum 6
Coker used a pair of five-run innings as the Cobras captured the opener, 14-6.
Coker recorded 15 hits in the contest including one double and 14 singles led by three-hit performances from Colton Penner, Dimitri Sabino and Peter Adams.
Tusculum accounted for 13 hits as Kolby Watson had a season-best 4-for-5 performance, while Alejandro Ponte and Adrian Salas each finished with a pair of hits.
Coker starting pitcher Blake Baldwin (3-3) tossed 7.2 innings where he allowed six runs (3 earned), 12 hits, zero walks and a strikeout to record the victory. Ian Hawk pitched the final 1.1 innings to notch his third save of the year.
Tusculum got on the scoreboard first in the second frame when Caden Rector led off with a double and moved to third base on Nick Satterly‘s base hit. Rector would score on Adrian Salas‘ squeeze bunt for a 1-0 TU lead.
Coker answered with three runs in the bottom of the second, capped off by a Matthew Lipcsey RBI single.
TU battled back scoring a run each in the third and fifth innings to tie the game at 3-3. The Pioneers tied it in the fifth with Ponte’s team-leading 16th double of the season to drive in Ryan Ortega from second base.
The Cobras retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Lipcsey led off with a single and moved to second on a TU error. Another TU error put runners on the corners as Gavin Johnson drove in the go-ahead run with his squeeze bunt to plate Lipcsey.
Coker plated five runs in the fifth thanks to one hit, two walks and three-hit batters to extend the lead to 9-3.
Tusculum fought back as Watson singled and scored on Caleb Mulcahy‘s RBI triple. Mulcahy would come into score on Rector’s ground out. TU mounted a two-out rally as Julian Jennings got on base with a pinch-hit single. After Evan Cage pinch-ran and scored on an Adrian Salas double as TU trailed 9-6.
But the Cobras would put the game out of reach with five runs in the bottom of the inning sparked by a two-run single off the bat of Gavin Edens to extend the lead to 14-6.
Game 2: Coker 14, Tusculum 4
Similar to Saturday’s first game, Coker used a pair of big innings en route to a 14-4 victory in the regular-season finale.
The Cobras scored six runs each in the first and third innings while the Pioneers committed a season-high seven errors including four alone in the opening frame.
Adams went 2-for-3 and scored three times, while Luke Miller had a two-hit outing in the win.
Jennings led the Pioneers with his 3-for-3 performance, while Steven Scarfone went 2-for-3 for the visitors.
Ten batters went to the plate for Coker in the first inning as five of the six runs scored were unearned.
The Cobras added a run in the second to make it 7-0 in favor of the home team.
Tusculum dented the board in the third as Ryan Ortega drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Scarfone’s RBI double down the right field line.
But another 10-batter inning in the third resulted in six more runs for Coker including a two-RBI single by Lipcsey as the lead swelled to 13-1.
Jennings capped an outstanding week which saw him close out his career going 7-for-9 with a double and a home run.
Ortega finished the season being hit 18 times by pitch which is tied for the second-most in program history and two shy of the TU record held by Daulton Martin (20 in 2021).
