BRADENTON, Fla. - NCF Baseball swept a Saturday doubleheader from Briar Cliff Saturday winning Game 1 4-3 and Game 2 13-5 to earn a series victory over the Chargers.
Both contests were seven innings.
Game 1
NCF trailed for the majority of Saturday's opener as a three-run home run from Brair Cliff's Cade Marquardt in the top of the third gave the Chargers an early 3-0 lead.
A sac-fly from
Fernando Espinal gave NCF a run back in the bottom half of the third, but the Chargers took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh, where the Mighty Banynas would rally.
With one out,
Miguel Pena delivered a pinch-hit single, which was followed by a walk from
Brecken Fair and an RBI single from
Matthew Merk to cut the lead to 3-2.
The next batter,
Patrick Fink, would sky a walk-off double over the head of center fielder Damon Schmid to give the Mighty Banyans a come-from-behind victory.
Game 2
Saturday's second game saw NCF and Briar Cliff trade blows early.
After the Chargers plated one in the top of the first, NCF struck for three in the bottom half of the frame as Espinal ripped a two-run double and
Wil Gregory drove in a run on a ground ball.
Later, with the score tied at three, Espinal hit his first home run of the season to make it 4-3 and Fair lifted a sac-fly to make it 5-3.
Briar Cliff would rally to tie the game at five in the top of the fifth, but from there, it was all Mighty Banyans.
NCF rallied for four in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth as in the bottom of the fifth, catcher
Matt Grau delivered a go-ahead two-run single and
Andrew Merchant ripped a two-run triple.
In the sixth, Merk hit an RBI single, Espinal scored on a passed ball, while a sac-fly from Gregory not only plated one run but saw Espinal hustle from second all the way around to score and pad the lead at 13-5, which would be more than enough for
Jimmy McCarthy, who worked 2.0 innings of scoreless relief to end the ballgame.
Up Next: NCF, now 8-4 on the season, will be back in action next Saturday when it opens a four-game weekend series with Bethel University (Ind.) beginning at Noon EST at IMG Academy.
