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Box Score 4 Daphne, AL - The United States Sports University's Baseball Team made back to back trips to Gulf Breeze, Florida for doubleheaders against Lighthouse College. On Saturday, April 26th the Eagles won by scores of 9-4 and 4-0 and followed it up with 10-4 and 13-1 victories on Sunday.
In game one of the series, USSU rode the pitching of
Ray Hernandez and took advantage of six Lighthouse errors to gain the victory. Freshmen
Evan Jacob and
Chase Jones led the Eagles with two hits apiece. Hernandez was outstanding on the mound as he struck out eight and didn't walk a batter in the complete game win. As good as Hernandez was, game two starter
Giovanny Perez was even better, throwing a complete game two-hit shutout, Perez walked a pair and struck out a pair. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th inning when
Andrew Garza blasted a two-run home run, his third of the season which gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Dominick Hartman had an RBI hit in the sixth and
Weston Brock an RBI hit in the seventh inning to round out the scoring.
"Going into a four-game series it was huge to get complete game efforts from Ray and Gio," said Eagles Head Coach Mike Neal. "Those two really took alot of pressure off the team for the weekend with their strong performances," added Neal. On Sunday, the Eagles ran away with the game after an eight-run second inning. USSU had 14 hits to back the pitching of
Ryan Carson who gained the win on the mound,
Justin Graham pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Eagles. On offense,
Hayden Jones,
Connor Fitzner, Jake Smithson, Andrew Poirrier, Brock and
Ashton Wasielewski all had a pair of hits for USSU. Wasielewski had a grand slam in the eight-run second for his first home run of the year.
In the final game of the series the Eagles scored nine runs in the fifth inning to claim the 13-1 victory.
Evan Jacob was 4 for 4 in the game and homered twice in the same inning, the nine-run fifth. Jacob had four RBI's to pace USSU.
The Eagles finished their inaugural season with a record of 21-16. "It was very important to our team to establish a winning tradition and to be able to do so the first year was extremely rewarding!" said Neal. "The hard work put in by our kids, Coaches
Bob Simpson and
Mark Boyer on the field, and the work in the weight room all year led by Coach
Cody Cleveland truly made this successful season a true team effort," added Neal
