By: Jake Miller
WILSON, N.C.- Coker baseball pounded out 22 runs on 21 hits to beat Barton, the fifth-ranked team in the Southeast region 22-5 on Tuesday (Feb. 28).
The Cobras took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning of the game off a Thomas Lopez RBI single, but the second inning is when Coker's offense would explode.
Scott Burnley started the inning off with a walk. Clint Allen walked to follow up Burnley stealing second, before a Robert Lybrand single loaded the bases for Jon Koski. Koski chopped one to first base and Burnley was able to score on the wild throw from the first baseman. AJ Strnad kept the train rolling with a two-RBI single up the middle, and was followed up by a Lopez walk to once again load the bases. Darius Coldiron doubled to right field scoring two runs, followed by Bryson Conner singling up the middle to bring home two more to blow the game wide open in favor of the Navy and Gold. Allen would single in his second at-bat of the inning, and move up to third on a sacrifice fly by Koski. Allen would later score on a Barton wild pitch for the 10th run of the Coker second.
Two more wild pitches would allow Coker to score twice in the third, stretching the lead to 13-0 for the visitors. The Cobras would go scoreless until the sixth, when Strnad was plunked with the bags full and Lopez added two more RBI to his credit with a single through the left side. Two-RBI doubles from Koski and Strnad would pad the lead further in the seventh, and another single from Conner and a sacrifice fly from Connor Cleary would add on to the lead in the ninth.
Lopez shined in the win, going 4-5 driving in three runs and scoring twice. Koski, Strnad, Coldiron, Conner, Cleary and Allen each collected two hits, while five other Cobras registered hits in the win.
On the bump, Brady Shuey (1-0) earned the win, firing two shutout innings allowing two hits and one walk while recording one strikeout. Matt Ticer chucked two innings of relief, allowing two earned runs on five hits while issuing one free pass. Brooks Estrada registered his second appearance of the season, tossing one inning and allowing three earned runs on three hits while giving up one walk. Cody Brown continued his stellar work out of the pen, logging two scoreless innings allowing one hit, one walk and striking out two. Jackson Back pitched one scoreless inning, recording one hit allowed and one strikeout. Jon Koski finished off the ninth on the mound, giving up two hits and one walk while punching out one.
The Cobras (10-5, 2-1 SAC) hit the road for their second conference series at Lincoln Memorial on Friday (Mar. 3) at 3:00 p.m.