Orangeburg, S.C. — The SVSU Baseball team continued their road contests on Thursday with a single nine-inning game against Claflin University. The Cardinals went on to defeat the Panthers after ninth inning home to secure the victory, 4-2.
Claflin opened up the first with one run to go up 1-0 over Saginaw Valley State. This was the only run for the next six innings for either team.
In the top of the seventh Derrek Clyde tripled, RBI, with Griffin Green crossing the plate to tie the contest, 1-1.
The Panthers responded and notched one run in the eighth to take back the lead 2-1 over the Cardinals.
With SVSU down heading into the final inning, Wyatt Pimentel in his first appearance and second at bat of the season, homered, 3 RBI, bringing Cole Brooks and Collin Winters coming home.
This was the final score of the contest, pushing SVSU to a 4-2 victory over the Panthers.
Alec Justin (1-0) earned his first win of 2018, working 1.1 innings withe one strikeout. Jordan Swiss recieved his third save of the season, pitching .2 innings.
With this win, SVSU heads to an eight game winning streak, the first time since 2008 where the team previously won 10 in a row.
From head coach Chris Ebright
"You absolutely have to tip your cap to Claflin, they came out and gave us one of the toughest games we've had so far. Huge credit to our guys for not panicking and playing all 9 innings. We had guys step in off the bench for the first time this year and really come through clutch for us...Wyatt Pimentel in only his second at bat of the year (1st game) with the 3 run bomb to go ahead in the ninth, and Alec Justin in his first outing collecting the win. Also, Ravi Mahanti game up huge for us throwing 4 scoreless innings in only his second outing of the year. We can enjoy this one for the night, but have to refocus and play two tomorrow."
From pitching coach Clay VanderLaan
"Any time you can hold a team two only two runs in a college baseball game it's an extremely successful day, but to do it in the middle of an 11 game road trip is even more impressive for our guys. Extremely proud of all of them, but Ravi Mahanti coming through with 4 scoreless in only his second outing and Alec Justin collecting the Win in his first are some definite highlights. I'm extremely proud of the unit we have here, bouncing back with a 2 run performance after the crazy day yesterday shows me a lot about their make up."
Up Next...
The SVSU Baseball team will travel north to Charleston, W.V. to play a four game series against the University of Charleston beginning Friday (Mar. 9) at 2 p.m.
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