HARDEEVILLE, SC – Florida Memorial University took both games in Saturday's doubleheader against University of South Carolina-Beaufort, defeating the Sharks 3-2 in the day's first game and taking the second game 12-8 to win the weekend series 2-1.
The Lions (3-6, 2-1 Sun Conference) won what turned out to be a pitcher's duel in the first game at the Richard Gray Baseball Complex.
Christian Rivera stood on the mound for 6-and-a-third innings, allowing just three hits while striking out seven. FMU's batters gave Rivera three runs to protect after
Rohandry Javier and
Jouseph Renovales came across home plate in the top of the third and
James Spatafora brought Renovales home again in the top of the fifth.
Once Rivera exited the game, FMU head coach turned to
Krystian Negron – who gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 3-2 – for an inning but ended up giving the ball to
Samuel Briehn who nailed the game by getting the final two USC-Beaufort batters to groundout and earned the save
Lions catcher
Josue Sanchez was a team-best 2-for-3 at the plate in game one.
Luis Angel Rivera went 2-for-4 while Renovales was 1-for-3 with his two runs scored. Rivera earned the win.
The second game of the day was completely different from the first.
From the onset, Florida Memorial's bats had plenty of juice. The Lions scored four runs in the first inning and ended up plating runs in five of the nine innings while touching up the Sharks pitchers for 14 total hits.
FMU took a 5-3 lead into the fourth inning, then expanded that lead to 9-5 after Sanchez came home thanks to a Sharks fielding error then
Gabriel Marinez brought
Manuel Mollinedo home with a single to left center.
Florida Memorial, which will travel to Ave Maria University next weekend for a three-game weekend series beginning on Feb. 21, tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the eighth – going up 12-5 – before USC-Beaufort's rally attempt in the bottom of the ninth fell well short as the Lions sealed their 12-8 victory,
Renovales led the Lions in the second game, going 4-of-5 with three runs scored and an RBI.
Axel Gomez, Marinez, and
Yunior Sanchez all had two hits in the third game, while Sanchez totaled three RBI. Spatafora scored two runs in the second game, Johnakiel Acosta earned the win and
Brandon Carter was credited with the save.
